If Life Was Like a Video Game
by Serene Ice Dragon
Summary: When a group of kids in the Wammy House stumble across a forgotten invention, they become interested in a virtual reality video game. Deciding to try it out on their own, they soon discover what living in a video game is really like.
1. Discovery

Author's Note: I included two OCs, but they aren't there to be Mary Sues. There aren't going to be any pairings, they are just there to add to the story. I hope you enjoy it!

_Beep. Beep. Bloop. Beep._

The usual sounds of video games could be heard wafting from the play room of the Wammy House. Matt sat in one corner of the room playing the brand new Playstation 2 that Roger had bought for all the kids. Not that many of the kids actually bothered to play it. It had been purchased four days ago, and Matt was the one on it most of the time, which wasn't very surprising to anybody. Mello knew exactly where to go to find his friend.

"Hey, Matt, d'you know what happened to the last of the chocolate?"

Matt shrugged, not taking his eyes off of the television screen. "You ate it?"

"No. There were a couple bars there earlier but I just went to get some and they are all gone."

"Maybe somebody else ate them. They are there to share you know."

"Right. Because you know all about sharing." Mello grumbled, watching Matt hog the Playstation. Okay, so he could understand somebody taking one bar, but two? He had run out of his own personal stash and figured he would just take one from the kitchen. There was usually always a chocolate bar or two in the kitchen, but the one time he needed some, they were all gone. Figures.

"Aw c'mon Tidus! Don't be such a wuss! You're gonna lose your girl if you don't take action now. Oh, look, too late, she kissed the other guy, nice job. No bow-chika-bow-wow for you."

Mello rolled his eyes. Matt was the only person he knew that talked to his video games. He was about to ask his friend to come with him to the store to get some chocolate, but realized he wasn't going to be able to drag him away from the new game system. He sighed. "I'm going to go ge-"

"Awww man! Somebody's already playing it!"

The blonde turned around when he heard a female's voice, cutting his sentence short. Two girls were standing in the doorway. One of the girls, a redhead whose hair reached the middle of her back, was pouting- he presumed she was the one who wanted to play the Playstation. The auburn-haired girl standing next to her was holding a jar of strawberry jam, dipping something into it. Mello realized the something she was dipping into the jam was chocolate.

"You are the one who took the last of the chocolate!"

The girl blinked. "Yeah? Your point?"

"That was supposed to me mine!"

"Really now? I didn't see your name anywhere on it..." she said, looking over the wrapper as if trying to find a name written on it.

Mello seethed. "Well...you should have...I wanted...Grah! I'm going to buy more chocolate." He stomped past the pair, grumbling to himself.

The girl turned back to her friend. "Well, Scarlet, since somebody is already on it, you'll have to come back later. Why don't we head to the library? I need a new book to read."

"But I wanted to play Kingdom Hearts! It was getting so good! Right now, Riku is getting help from the evil Maleficent to save Kairi! But Sora is trying to save Kairi too and they got into this fight-"

"You can play after, the game isn't going anywhere. Let's go."

"I'll just wait until he's done. Somebody else might take it before I get back. You can go to the library if you want, Alone, I'll be here."

Alone sighed as Scarlett took a seat in one of the chairs. "I was going to show you one of the books I read recently that was really good and I think you'll like."

The redhead shrugged. "I'll check it out after. Not like the library is going anywhere." She turned her attention to the boy playing the Playstation. "Hey, um...are you going to be done anytime soon?"

Matt still didn't take his eyes off of the screen. "I guess I can be. I gotta find a save point first, though." He hadn't really planned on getting off, but he also hadn't expected anybody else to want it. Figuring he had been playing for three hours already, he couldn't really say no.

"No problem." Scarlet grinned and turned to her friend. "See? All I had to do was ask."

Taking a seat beside Scarlet with a sigh, Alone continued munching on her snack and became interested with the dice on the table next to the chair. With one hand holding her chocolate, she began stacking the dice with her other hand, making sure they were perfectly aligned before placing another on top.

A jingle sounded from the television and a message popped up saying that the game had successfully been saved. The disc inside the game system stopped spinning as it was turned off, the small light going from green to red indicating that the console was still plugged in, but in stand-by mode.

Scarlet hopped down from the chair as Matt stood up. Putting Final Fantasy X back in it's case, she pulled out Kingdom Hearts.

"Uh...Scarlet, right?" Matt asked, watching her switch the games. "Do you play games often?"

"Mhmm. Why?"

"How good are you?"

Scarlet shrugged. "Good enough, I guess. Since Alone doesn't play video games, I've only played by myself, and fighting against computers is a lot different than playing with actual people."

"Uh-huh..." Matt thought for a moment. "Well then, want to find out just how good you really are?"

"Oh?" Scarlet pulled back from putting Kingdom Hearts into the system, eyebrow raised. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Play against me. Though, I doubt you will be able to beat me, I am really good."

A smirk formed on the girl's lips. "Bring it on."

When Mello had returned with a new supply of chocolate, he saw not one, but two redheads sitting in front of the television playing video games. "There's two of them?! As if one wasn't enough!"

Scarlet turned around. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"You're getting killed, you know." Matt said, elbowing Scarlet.

"Ack!" She immediately turned her attention back to the game. "You could have stopped them for me. We _are_ on the same team."

Any hope Mello had of getting Matt away from the video games shattered. Seeing somebody else on the Playstation made him think that Matt would actually have to give it up for a while and find something else to do while the girl took a turn, but just the opposite had happened: instead of taking turns, they were playing co-op. The blonde plopped himself down in a chair and ripped open a bar of chocolate. "Great. Just great."

"Excuse me, Mello, you are sitting on candy wrappers."

Mello jumped up and Alone grabbed the candy wrappers from the chair. After she had finished stacking the dice, she had begun busying herself with cleaning up and organizing the play room. People sure were messy, and she couldn't stand to see toys scattered about and things where they didn't belong.

"How did you know my name?" Mello asked, giving the girl a sharp glare. He didn't remember ever telling her his name. He certainly didn't know hers.

"You are in my writing class. I remember names easily. I'm Alone. The one playing with Matt is Scarlet."

"Aaaah! Nooo! Get up! Get up! Get up! Phew." Scarlet suddenly yelled, eyes still on the television.

Mello stood corrected: Matt wasn't the only one who talked to his games. "I have a feeling we are going to have to physically pull them away from the television. Unless you just want to leave them there all night."

A sudden crunching sound drew everyone's attention to the other side of the room. Three boys stood around a smaller boy, one of them stomping on an action figure while the other two laughed.

"Aren't you a little old to be playing with dolls?"

"What's the matter? You have no real friends so you have to play with toys?"

The three roared with laughter. Alone fumed. Putting down the deck of cards she had been intending to put away, she stomped over to the boys. "Why don't you all go pick on somebody your own size? Leave him alone!"

The boy that had been stomping on the toy stopped laughing, turning to Alone. "Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it? Are you going to take on all three of us? You're just a girl!" He stood as tall as he could, looking down on Alone, trying to intimidate her. Alone, however, didn't back down, her green eyes fixed on the taller boy as she glared back.

"Are you so low that you would fight a girl?" Mello walked up to the group, snapping off a piece of chocolate with his teeth.

"You gonna stand up for her?" The boy said, rolling up his sleeve. He appeared to be the leader of the group, as the other two just stood back, watching and trying to look tough.

"Get out of here, you worthless scum." Mello said, not intimidated in the least. In fact, he looked more dangerous than any of the three bullies. At this point, Matt and Scarlet had paused their game and run over.

"Why you!" The boy let a punch fly. Unfortunately for him, he missed Mello as the blonde dodged, then retaliated with his own punch, catching the bully on the side of his face. He was ready to attack again when Matt grabbed him and held him back.

"Hey, calm down, Mel! These guys aren't worth getting in trouble over!"

Mello struggled to break free of Matt's grasp. "Let me go, Matt! These guys need to be taught a lesson!"

Matt refused to let his friend go. "Roger will take care of them, don't get into trouble because of losers like them."

The three boys glared. The first boy kicked the remains of the toy aside, looking back at the small boy sitting on the ground. "See ya later, shrimp!" He laughed again as he left the room.

"Tch. Cowards." Mello growled. They came across somebody tougher, and ran away. Typical bullies.

Alone kneeled down beside the white-haired boy. "Are you okay?"

The boy nodded. "I'm fine. I'm used to it." He picked up the remains of his action figure. The thing was busted beyond repair. Though he acted as if it were no big deal, it wasn't hard to tell he was upset.

Scarlet frowned. "That's not something you should be used to."

"You didn't have to do that, but thank you." The boy said. Though he was talking to all of them, his dark eyes were on Mello.

"I didn't do it to help you, Near, I just don't like bullies." Mello sneered.

Near twirled his hair. "I see." It was quiet for a moment before Near spoke again. "It's getting late. We should probably retire to our rooms for the night."

Nobody else seemed to have noticed the room had emptied out. The five were now the only ones left in the room. Scarlett looked up at the clock on the wall. "Nine forty-five already? Wow. I didn't realize it was so late. We'd better hurry and finish with our game." She ran back to the Playstation, Matt trailing after her.

The kids were all expected to be in bed no later than ten o'clock. It was a rule Roger, the current head of the Wammy House, made sure to enforce. It was vital that the kids all got their proper rest. Most went to bed without question, but there were some that, without a definite bed time, would stay up all night and sleep through the entire morning. Matt had once gotten in trouble for playing video games all night long. When he didn't show up to class, Roger went to check on him to make sure he wasn't sick. When he discovered the boy was sleeping with a Gameboy in his hands and no signs of illness, Matt's Gameboy had been taken away from him for three days. Those were a long three days for him, even more so for Mello, who had to put up with him. Of course, Matt had never done that again.

As Scarlet went to pick up her controller, the light in the room flickered. "What was that?"

Near looked up at the light on the ceiling. "Perhaps the light bulb is burning out." For a moment, it seemed everything was fine, but the group was soon emerged in darkness as the electricity went out.

"No! Not before we get a chance to save! Darn it!"

Matt sighed. "There goes my high score."

"Well, that's that." Alone said. "I guess it's time we all head to bed. Um...that's if we can find our way out of the room first."

"OW!" Mello's voice rang out in the darkness. "Near, you brat! You tripped me!"

"You knew I was here, Mello. It's your fault for not paying attention." Near responded, his voice calm.

"Who am I touching?" Matt's voice was followed by a loud slap. "Ow...what was that for?!"

"That was _me _ you were grabbing!" Alone yelled. "Keep your hands to yourself!"

"Oh. Heh heh...sorry." Matt chuckled, only to be slapped again. "Ow!"

"Don't laugh about it!"

"How are we going to find our way around now? Wait for somebody to come with a flashlight or something?" Scarlet asked, not moving from her spot.

"We can get out on our own. It would probably best for us to all hold on to each other so we don't cause any more trouble. Alone, can you find my hand?"

Alone hadn't even noticed Near had made his way beside her. Reaching out, she felt around the dark until she came in contact with a hand. "Is this you?"

"Yes. Now, somebody grab Alone's other hand, and continue that until we are all together."

Following Alone's voice, Scarlet found her friend's hand, in turn grabbing Mello's, while Matt took up the rear. Now forming a human chain, Near led them all out of the playroom and into the hall. The only light came from the soft rays of moonlight shining through the windows, the stained-glass leaving ghostly rainbow patterns on the floor. It didn't do much to help light the halls up.

"This place looks so creepy in the dark like this." Scarlet muttered. Though the orphanage usually had a warm, homey feel to it, it seemed like a totally different place in the extreme darkness. "Let's hurry and find the way to our rooms."

"Hey, what's that? Look at that door over there." Mello asked, pointing to the far end of the hall despite the fact nobody could actually see his movement. A very faint, unnatural glow was leaking from beneath a door.

Alone looked around until she found what Mello was talking about. "I don't know. In fact, I didn't even know there was a door there."

Now curious, Mello started walking in the direction of the glow, the others following. Near sighed, not much interested in whatever it was, but followed along anyway. As they got closer, they realized that there wasn't even a door there. The glow looked as if it were coming from beneath the wall. Letting go of Scarlet's and Matt's hands, Mello began feeling around, trying to find a doorknob, only to discover there was none. "What the hell? I _know_ there is something there, but I can't find a doorknob or anything! I can't even feel any cracks!"

Soon, Mello, Alone, and Matt were all feeling the wall, trying to find out where the glow was coming from. Scarlet began looking around the area, wondering if there was something else that could be causing the glow. He hand landed on an old-fashioned candleholder sticking out of the wall. Though there were several along the walls of the Wammy House, none of them were actually used anymore, they simply were left for decoration. On a whim, Scarlet began tugging at it slightly. She thought she felt it move, and tugged harder. Unexpectedly, the candleholder pulled back, almost causing Scarlet to fall over. She almost panicked, thinking she had broken it, but when she realized it was still attached to the wall, she was relieved.

Mello, Alone and Matt jumped back as the wall they were touching suddenly began to move, soundlessly sliding aside, opening the way to a small staircase, the faint glow now illuminating the immediate area. Their mouths dropped open and they turned to Scarlet, who was still holding onto the candleholder, a similar look of disbelief on her face.

"Did you...just open it by tugging on the candleholder?" Mello asked, receiving a nod in response. "I'm not sure what is worse: the fact that you even tried that, or the fact that it actually worked."

"Let's see what's down there!" Matt said excitedly. "Maybe it's a secret lair or something!"

Mello raised an eyebrow. "Matt, what would a secret lair be doing in the Wammy House?"

"Why would it be so hidden with pulling on the candleholder being the only way to open it? Only secret hideouts have that kind of thing."

"Yeah, in movies. We aren't in a movie. But I guess I am a bit curious as to what is down there..."

"So let's go!" Without another word, Matt began making his way down the narrow staircase.

"This could get us into big trouble." Near said, twirling his hair and gazing down the staircase.

Mello rolled his eyes. "Oh, who cares. Stay here then. Hey Matt, wait up!"

"Let's just see what's down there. We can come right back up." Alone said, following after Mello. "C'mon, Scarlet!"

Scarlet nodded, finally letting go of the secret lever to follow the others. Seconds after releasing the candleholder, the door began to shut. Everyone turned around, watching Near slip in at the last second and the door slide closed.

"I hope there is a way back out..." Scarlet gulped.

"If there was a way in, there's gotta be a way out." Alone said. "At least we can see now."

The same glow that had been shining from underneath the door illuminated the staircase, leading them into a large room. Various gadgets were scattered about. The glow was coming from a lightbulb hanging from the ceiling, though the source of energy was unknown since the entire house was in a blackout. The room appeared to belong to an inventor of some sort.

"Do you think this was Watari's room? He _is_ an inventor." Mello guessed, picking up some kind of small robot toy.

"He left an awful lot of stuff behind." Alone said, amazed at the number of various gizmos and gadgets strewn about. Some of the stuff looked unfinished, making her wonder why they hadn't either been thrown out or completed.

"Hey, look at this!" Matt was standing at the far end of the room, pulling aside large, black curtains that had obviously been there to keep something hidden. Behind the curtains were several large pods, big enough for an adult to lay in. Wires ran from each of them to a small, square device in the center.

Scarlet bent down to get a closer look at the device the pods were encircling. "It looks like a game system." Pressing down on a cover on the top opened it up, revealing a disc set inside. "Yep, definitely looks like a game system."

The others were now gathered around as well, inspecting the strange console. "What's it for?" Alone asked.

Matt pressed the button labeled "on". The bottom of the device glowed with a faint blue light as the disc inside began spinning.

"Okay...so where are the controllers?" Mello asked, not seeing anything resembling a controller attached.

"Maybe it's those pods?" Matt asked, walking over to one of them. He pressed a button, opening the clear cover and climbed inside. "There are buttons in this thing. Hey, maybe it's some kind of virtual reality type thing! I bet that if we lay in these, we can play games just with our minds!"

"You can't be serious." Mello said looking into one of the pods. "That's crazy."

"No, it'd be awesome! It would be like you were actually in the game! Let's try it out!"

"Don't you think it's stored away and hidden for a reason?" Alone said, skeptical. "What if it doesn't work right?"

Matt shrugged. "What's the worst that could happen? If it doesn't work, then we'll just forget about it. It's not like laying in one of these things is going to kill us."

Scarlet opened one of the pods and got in herself. "Well, might as well give it a try. Like Matt said, what's the worst that could happen? Besides, it's' comfortable in here! I guess it's made so you won't be interrupted while you play. I'd like to have one of these things to sit in while I play games."

Following suit, Mello hopped in the pod to the left of Matt's. "This better be fun. Maybe I'll get lucky and it will be a shooting game or something."

"C'mon, Alone, Near, we'll all try it. The more players, the better!" Matt said, poking his head out.

Alone sighed. "I don't really like this idea, but I guess I'll try. Somebody's got to be there in case you all get carried away."

After Alone and Near had settled in their own pods, Matt looked around at the few buttons. "Well, at least the controls are obvious. Everybody ready? Let's go!"

The group proceeded to close their pods, each of them pressing their button labeled "initiate". A buzzing noise filled the room as the pods' inhabitants closed their eyes, all appearing to fall into a slumber.


	2. World 1 1

_Author's Note: Originally, I was going to do one chapter per world, but since that would make each chapter ridiculously long, I'm breaking it up. For example, World 1.1 means world 1, level 1. Next chapter will be World 1.2, and so forth until I start a new world, which will then bring us to World 2.1. Not sure how many levels and worlds there will be, it depends on how long it takes me to run out of ideas._

--

Brown eyes fluttered open as Scarlet came back into consciousness. She sat up, glancing around at her surroundings. The others all lay scattered about on the grass. Scarlet crawled over to Alone, shaking her shoulder.

"Hey, Alone! Wake up!"

Alone groaned and sat up. "Uhnnn...what happened? Is everyone alright?"

One by one, Near, Matt and Mello all woke up. The blonde looked around. "Where are we?"

The group was sitting in a large, grassy field. The sun shone high in the cloudless blue sky. A town lay just ahead, a drawbridge providing a way across the river and entrance into the town. Spotting a sign, Alone got to her feet, dusted herself off, and read the wooden sign, which was pointing in the direction of the town.

"Harial Market Town."

"Harial?" Scarlet repeated. "Sound like a cheap rip-off of Hyrule. I hope this isn't one of those lame wannabe games."

"Well, let's head to the town and talk to the people. It's always good to talk to every NPC, some have useful information." Matt said, leading the way to the town.

Beyond the gate to the town, various people hustled and bustled about, going about their daily business. A beautiful fountain stood in the center of the large town. In the middle of the fountain, a marble woman stood, holding out a large jar. Water poured down from the jar, puddling at the woman's feet, then spilling over the side into the base of the fountain. The only article of clothing on the stone figure was a sash that lightly wrapped around, just covering the woman's chest and lower area.

A plump woman walking by with a child clinging to her hand saw the five looking at the statue. "She's lovely, eh? That's a tribute our Goddess Asha, who watches over and protects us. She's the one who brought life to this land, ya know."

The child began tugging on her mothers dress. "Mommy! Hurry up!"

"Yes, yes dear." With that, the woman hurried off.

"Well, where should we start?" Alone asked, looking around the town.

Matt pointed to a building on their right. "Let's try that armory and see what they have. If this is really a game, there will be monsters, and we'll need a way to fight."

The inside of the armory was crowded. The men inside were noisy, elbowing each other and pushing through the crowd to get what they wanted. Various weapons hung on the wall, from axes to bows, daggers and shields. Unfortunately, Mello could not spot any guns. What kind of weapons shop didn't have guns? "Damn medieval games."

"Hey, sir, how much for the weapons?" Matt asked a burly man behind the counter.

"Read the pricing chart!" The man's gruff voice responded, pointing to a scroll on the wall.

Near managed to squeeze his way through the crowd to take a look at it. "The cheapest weapons are bows, which start at 150 gold." He turned to the rest of the group "We don't have any money."

Matt dug in his pockets, only pull out lint. "This game doesn't even start us off with some money? How lame."

Walking back out of the armory, Mello spotted a man standing idly near the entrance. "Hey, do you know where we can go to make some quick cash?"

The man gave a large smile that was more creepy than it was friendly. "If you have any questions, ask Mortimer the Wise. He can help you with anything."

"Uh...okay. So where is this guy?"

'If you have any questions, ask Mortimer the Wise. He can help you with anything."

Mello just stood there for a moment. "Are you trying to mess with me? I asked where the guy is!" The man didn't seem to notice Mello's growing aggravation and simply repeated himself again. The blonde was ready to punch the guy when Matt laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Mel, it's an NPC. They only say what they are programmed to say."

"What the hell is an NPC?"

"A Non-playable character." Scarlet chimed in. "Some are helpful, some are annoying, and some give you quests to go on. Usually you'll get bits and pieces of information from different people. Now that we know a Mortimer the Wise exists, we should ask around and see if any of them have information on his location."

Splitting up, the group spent the next fifteen minutes questioning every person in town. They were now armed with more useless facts than they would remember, a few items and gold, and enough information to find Mortimer the Wise. After putting all the facts together, they came to the conclusion that the elusive wiseman lived alone in a cottage, was half-deaf as well as blind in one eye, had a pet toad he called Norbert, and was located about 10 minutes away west of the market town they were currently in. In the time it had taken them to gather the information, they could have already been in and out of ol' Mortimer's cottage.

"Hey, how are we supposed to store all this stuff?" Alone asked on the way to the cottage, referring to the items they had gathered during their questioning.

Scarlet held up the potion she had been given by a rather rich looking individual. "Good question. We don't have endless pockets like the characters in games do."

"Maybe we do." Matt said, trying to stuff an ether into his pocket, only to be unsuccessful. "Or not."

"Guess that's something else we can ask Mortimer the Wise." Mello said, rolling his eyes. "Who names their kid Mortimer anyway? These video game people sure have weird names."

After ten minutes of walking, the five reached the cottage. Approaching the door, Near knocked loud enough so the half-deaf man could hear. Shuffling could be heard from inside. A thud sounded with every other footstep, signifying that the man probably used a walking cane. With a creak, the door opened, revealing an elderly man with a long, white beard. Small glasses sat at the tip of his long nose. He looked to be at least 80 years old. The man was garbed in flowing white robes that would make anybody wonder how he didn't trip and break his hip. He looked the group over for a moment, then stepped aside. "Please, come in. Take a seat."

The cottage was small, but had a warm feel to it. Matt spotted a fish tank sitting on a table against a wall, with who he assumed to be Norbert the Toad sitting on a rock in the water, croaking away. "Is it okay if I pick him up?"

The old man nodded. "Just be gentle with him."

Reaching in the tank, Matt pulled the toad out. It didn't struggle or try to hop away like he thought it would have. Scarlet reached out and pet it, giggling when it croaked happily.

"Hey, Scarlet, why don't you give it a kiss? Maybe it'll turn into a handsome prince." Matt said, raising the amphibian to eye level with Scarlet, who immediately stepped back.

"Ew. We are in a video game, Matt, not a fairy tale!"

"So, old man, whe-" Mello's sentence was cut short as he received a jab in the ribs from Alone.

"Be more respectful" She hissed.

"_Mortimer, _do you know how we can make some easy cash? We asked people in town but all they said was go come see you."

"I sense a great energy from you children." Mortimer said, totally ignoring Mello's question.

"But that's not what I asked-"

"What do you mean, sir?" Near cut in. Mello glared at the white-haired boy.

Mortimer looked over each of them, finally resting his eyes on Near. "I think you might just be the ones we have been waiting for. The ones who will bring an end to the fear plaguing this land." Turning around before anybody could say anything else, he walked towards the back of the cottage. He rummaged through a closet, mumbling to himself before dragging a chest out. The man pulled a key out from a pocket hidden somewhere in his robe, inserted it in the keyhole in the chest, and lifted the cover. He signaled the group to walk over.

Laying in the chest were several weapons, each of which were too fancy to be ordinary weapons. "These are special weapons that have been passed down for generations. Five legendary heros once wielded them. They brought peace to this land ages ago. After passing away, the weapons were locked up until the right people would rise once again to claim them. I believe that you are those people." Mortimer lifted the weapons out and lay them across the table. "Now, choose your weapon."

The moment his eyes landed on a pistol, the weapon was in Mello's hands. "Sweet! 'Bout time this game has something good!" It was already loaded, and there was enough extra ammo to last him for a while, provided he aimed his shots well.

"Oooh, I claim the sword!" Scarlet said, picking up the katana. A dragon design ran along the blade of the sword, the hilt black and gold with a matching sheath.

Matt considered each of the remaining weapons, finally picking up a pair of long daggers. The sheaths were attached to a leather belt which Matt clipped around his waist. "Heh heh. I look like an assassin."

With only two weapons left, Alone picked the bow. A full quiver of arrows was also provided. The quiver strapped comfortably to her back along with the bow. The weapons were lightweight, assuring Alone that they wouldn't be a burden to carry.

A staff was all that remained for Near. It looked to be made out of gold. A white stone of some sort sat on the top, two small, gold wings sprouting from the tip of the staff and surrounding the stone. It appeared to be made for magic.

Mello couldn't resist laughing. "Near has a girly weapon!"

"Not necessarily." Scarlet pointed out. "Though you usually see females as the healers, there are male healers as well. Take the priests from Fire Emblem games, for example. Weapons aren't really for particular genders."

"Sure, ruin the moment." Mello mumbled, not happy with Scarlet coming to Near's defense.

"Now that you are equipped, why don't we step outside so that you may learn to properly wield your new weapons?" Mortimer said, walking out the door. The five followed, forming a semi-circle outside while the old man stood before them all, leaning on his cane in front of his cottage.

"First, the gun. Press and hold the R button to aim, and the B button to fire."

Mello blinked and turned to Matt, eyebrow raised.

"Er...I guess they forgot this was virtual reality and we weren't playing with controllers." The redhead responded.

"Press and hold the R button to aim, and the B button to fire." Moritmer repeated when Mello didn't take action.

"Just aim your gun and shoot somewhere." Matt said.

"Can I shoot the old man?"

"No, Mel, you can't shoot the old man. Why don't you aim for...hey, shoot down that bird!" Matt pointed to a raven sitting in a tree, cawing like there was no tomorrow.

"Watch me, I'll take it down in one shot." Mello held up the gun, aimed, and pulled the trigger. The bird let out it's final caw as it plummeted to the ground, black feathers floating down after it. Scarlet looked horror-struck.

"You shot the bird?!"

Mello shrugged. "It's just a video game, not like I killed a real life bird. Hey, what's that shining?" He pointed to something that glinted in the sunlight, laying where the bird's body had been only seconds before. Mello ran over, bent down to pick it up, and ran back. Three small gold coins lay in his hand. "It's money! But what was a bird doing with money?"

"It's a game. You get stuff from breaking and killing things." Matt answered.

"Sweet! See, Scarlet? I should shoot birds more often!"

"Good." Mortimer's voice interrupted, oblivious to what was going on. "The bow works the same way. For the sword, you can lock on to an enemy with the R button. Use the B button to swing. If you press the B button while simultaneously tilting the analog stick in a certain direction, you can perform various attacks. Try different combinations."

With Mortimer watching, Scarlet guessed he wanted her to try different attacks. Having nothing to fight against, she simply began swinging her sword in the air, doing a horizontal slash, a vertical slash, then a forward thrust.

"Wonderful! The daggers work in a similar way, except since they are shorter, you will need to be closer to your opponent to strike. The battle style will also differ since you are using two daggers rather than one sword." Mortimer nodded to Matt before finally facing Near.

"Now, that staff is endowed with powerful white magic. With it, you can heal party members, cast support spells, as well as use certain holy magic. Be cautious though, it takes energy to use magic. If an enemy gets too close for comfort, you could always knock them back with a good whack."

"Oh, and just one last thing." Mortimer said, garnering death glares from Mello. "The L button can be used to defend, and when used in combination with the analog stick, to dodge. Of course, the small weapons don't offer much for defense, and could destroy the bow. It's best to keep your long range weapons in the rear while your melee fighters take up the front lines."

"Well, that concludes the tutorial. With a bit of practice, you will become masters with your weapons in no time!"

"Can I shoot him now?" Mello growled. Matt just ignored him.

"Oh, before we go, do you have anything that can help us carry our items?" Scarlet asked.

"Ah, yes, of course. Wait just one moment." Mortimer shuffled back into his house, re-entered his closet, and, after more searching, returned grasping 5 leather pouches by their strings. "Here you are." He offered, holding them out.

Near took one, examining it. "Excuse me, but how are pouches as small as these going to help us carry any more than a single object at a time?"

"Those pouches hold up to 10 items each. I'm sure there are larger ones out there, but alas, that is all I have."

Alone raised an eyebrow. "These things are supposed to hold 10 items each?" She put a potion she had received from one of the people she had questioned before coming to Mortimer's into the pouch. Oddly enough, once it was in there, the pouch didn't appear to get any bigger Alone thought it had vanished, until she looked in it, saw the potion, pulled it back out, and put it back in, an incredulous look on her face.

"Neat!" Scarlet said, placing her own potion into her pouch. "Alone, it'd probably be best not to bother questioning anything. Video games aren't supposed to make sense."

"I suppose you are right..." Though she would have to accept the fact that strange things like this would happen, she still didn't seem completely content with that answer.

Screams suddenly pierced the air, tearing the group's attention away from their new equipment. The yells were a short distance away, and sounded to be coming from the town they had just departed from.

"Oh dear. Oh, no, this is not good." Mortimer said, shaking his head.

"What is it?" Alone asked, a worried look on her face.

"It's finally happening. The dragons have awoken."

Near turned to Mortimer with an unreadable expression. "Dragon? As in the monstrous lizards of fairy tails?"

"I'm afraid this is no fairy tale. Those weapons you now hold in your hands once defeated the mighty wyverns that plagued the land. They were too powerful to be killed, but were instead sealed away with the most powerful magic. To make sure they would never return, a great mountain was raised around them, trapping them in a stone prison that, should they somehow awaken, their strength would not be able to break through. That mountain, known as Dragon Mountain, is the largest in all of Harial."

"If they were _so_ well sealed off, then how did they break free again?" Mello asked, clearly mocking the man's story, though he didn't seem to take notice.

"Not too long ago, an oracle foresaw the awakening of the great beasts of legend. Despite the high accuracy of her prophecies, many didn't believe her, most likely out of fear of it coming true. She saw a person shrouded in darkness splitting through the mountain and awakening the wyverns. It seems that she was correct after all. This is indeed a dark day."

Mortimer looked to the sky before brining his small dark eyes back to the group. "However, I believe we are blessed with your arrivals. Surely it is no coincidence that you have come before me on this dreaded day. Please, you must save Harial!"

"Look, old man, we are just here to play the game, not go on some grand adventure and save your world in a heroic quest of danger and sacrifice." Mello said, twirling his gun on his index finger.

Matt shook his head. "Uh, Mello? That _is_ the game."

"Oh." Mello looked disappointed. "Man, how lame. I wanted to shoot zombies or something, not run around saving people."

"Don't worry, we might still get to do that. Who knows, maybe an entire graveyard of undead will rise up to try and stop us or something. Let's just keep going."

Mello seemed to perk up a little. If anybody knew video games, it was Matt, so if he said there was still a chance he'd get to go all out and blow off some zombie heads, there probably was. "Right. So, what now? Head to that mountain and take care of things?"

"I think we should head back to the town first and see exactly what is going on." Scarlet suggested. "Besides, if this is a typical game, which it seems to be, we'll need to fight and power up some before taking down those wyverns."

"I will get you to the town. I was rather skilled in magic back in my youthful days, so I can warp you all there in an instant. The fate of our land is in your hands. Good luck, young heros!" Mortimer's staff began to glow with a faint blue light, a circle of similar light forming underneath the group's feet. In a flash, the five vanished from sight, reappearing before the ruins of the market town.


	3. World 1 2

The once lively Harial market town was now in ruins. Stands had been reduced to broken piles of wood and crushed merchandise, buildings had half of their walls missing, and the top half of the fountain depicting the goddess Asha was now laying on the ground in several different pieces. The only sound was a little girl, crying and screaming for her mother.

"Mommy! Mommy, get up!"

Scarlet and Alone rushed over to the girl. They recognized her as the child from before who's mother told them about the fountain of Asha. The woman was now laying on her back in front of the destroyed fountain, not moving and bleeding from her forehead. Scarlet looked to her friend, silently asking if the woman was still alive. Alone put two fingers to the woman's neck.

"She's alive, I think she just got knocked unconscious. She should probably still be treated, though, it looks like she was cut by something."

Taking a close look at the mother's left shoulder and arm, Scarlet saw three long, deep cuts that ran adjacent to each other, starting from her shoulder and ending just below her elbow. They looked like claw marks. Scarlet turned around and motioned for the others to come over.

"Hey, Near, do you think you can heal her?"

Near looked at the woman's wounds, looked at the staff in his hands, and looked back at the wounds. "I'm...not sure how."

"Just use your magic!" Matt said.

"That is easier said than done. How exactly does one go about using magic? Am I to assess the damage, calculate how much it will take for them to be healed, then imagine the healing process taking place?" The white-haired boy stared at the cuts as if thinking hard enough would will the wounds to mend. When nothing happened, he cocked his head to one side, stared a moment longer, then turned back to Matt.

The redhead rolled his eyes. "I don't think it's that complicated, Near. You think too much. Just hold out your staff so the tip is hovering near where you want to heal, and will your energy to her or something. That's what they do in video games."

Near looked skeptical, but followed Matt's advice anyway. A faint blue glow surrounded the stone on the staff and around the claw marks on the woman. Before their eyes, the bleeding slowed to a stop, the flesh began repairing itself, and the skin stitched over the wound, leaving only faint scars behind. The wound on the woman's forehead also appeared to heal. Near's eyes widened as he watched the process take place.

Scarlet grinned. "You did it, Near!"

The boy looked at the stone on his staff. "So, magic is really the transfer of one's energy to something or someone via a special medium which helps convert and amplify the energy into whatever you will it into?"

Matt shrugged. "Sure, if you want to get all technical about it."

"She's waking up!" Alone said, drawing Near's attention from the stone on his staff.

"Mommy!" The little girl jumped into her mother's arms, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks. "I was scared, Mommy! You fell asleep and wouldn't wake up!" She buried her face in her mother's chest, who stroked her daughters hair before the little girl pulled away and looked at Near. She took a couple of steps away from her mother before giving Near a hug. "Thank you for helping Mommy!"

Near, unused to physical affection, simply sat there, looking slightly confused. The little girl, however, was too excited to notice. She pulled away and held out a hand. "Here. This is my special treasure, but I want you to have it!"

In the palm of the girl's small hand was a round crimson gem that glinted in the sunlight. When Near didn't take it from her, she placed it in his hand. The boy looked at it and shook his head.

"I'm afraid I cannot take this from you. It is valuable and precious to you. You should keep it."

The girl giggled. "I don't need it. It's your gift for helping Mommy." Before Near could protest further, the girl skipped over to her mother, who bowed to the group.

"Thank you very much for your help. If there is anything you ever need, please, don't hesitate to ask."

A devious smirk formed on Mello's lips as he looked thoughtful. He opened his mouth to speak, but before a word could escape, Alone caught his expression and spoke up.

"We are all set, but thank you for the offer." She turned to the rest of the group. "I guess we should head out to Dragon Mountain now, I don't think there is anything left here." She frowned at the destruction. Though she was glad they were able to save at least one person, several others lay dead, and the town would have to be rebuilt from scratch. She reminded herself it was just a game, but it still felt real.

"Let's hurry up. I want to shoot something, not run around saving...what were they called? NPCs?"

Scarlet frowned. "But Mello, you can't just let them die."

"It's _just a game_." He made sure to emphasize the word "game". "Stop acting like these are real people. We're here to have fun, right? Well giving every injured character we meet first aid isn't what I call fun."

"You are _supposed _to save people. I don't like letting NPCs die when I play, no matter how stupid they are. Well...with the exception of Ashley in Resident Evil 4. It's quite the contrary, I enjoy killing her in many different ways, but that's a totally different story. Besides, if you noticed, you get rewarded sometimes."

"So she gave some dumb stone to Near, big deal." The blonde huffed.

"Let's just keep going." Matt interrupted, turning around and walking past everyone. Mello and Scarlet dropped their conversation and followed. Near had still been looking at the stone he had been given, quickly pocketed it, and trailed behind the others.

Out in the field, Dragon Mountain wasn't difficult to spot. It was clearly the tallest mountain around, laying northeast of where the group was standing. Dark, ominous clouds loomed over the mountain, in sharp contrast to the blue sky that they were currently standing under. It looked like it would take a while to reach, but since the group had no other leads, it was their only choice.

The open field turned into a wooded area, the trees starting out sparse and gradually thickening until the five found themselves in a forest. The sunlight that managed to pierce through the thick treetops left thin rays of light scattered about, making the forest look rather beautiful. The peacefulness didn't last, however, as a deep growling broke the silence.

"What was that?" Alone asked, looking around for the source of the growling. Three large, black wolves stepped out from behind the trees. They crouched into a fighting position, long, white teeth bared. The group drew their weapons, ready to fight. Before the wolves attacked, something else caught Scarlet's attention.

"Mail Jeevas?" Scarlet suddenly used Matt's real name, startling him. He turned to see her staring at the space above his head. "Is that your real name?" She asked, cocking her head to one side.

"If Selene Corra is yours. And is that a life meter?" Matt pointed to the green meter that was currently filled, floating in midair just under Scarlet's name.

Soon, everybody was looking around at each other's names and life meters, which were all currently full and bright green. Scarlet turned her attention from Matt to Near, reading the name floating above his head in a slightly transparent white text. "Nate River".

"Mihael Keehl...that's a nice name." Alone said, admiring the way it sounded.

Mello glared. "You better not tell anybody my name, Amy Carter."

"Don't worry. Besides, who would I tell?"

A loud bark snapped the groups attention back to what they should have been focusing on. One of the wolves leaped forward, aiming for Matt. He quickly spun around, avoiding the sharp claws that threatened to cut into him, simultaneously drawing his daggers and cutting into the wolf as he passed. The animal stumbled as it landed, it's left side now sporting a large gash. Quickly, Alone hooked an arrow into her bow, pulled back, and caught the wolf in it's shoulder. It howled in pain, causing it's comrades to become enraged. They both lunged, aiming for whoever they could dig their teeth into.

Mello took one of the wolves down with a well-aimed shot to the head. The wolf fell back, it's lifeless body skidding to a halt. The second wolf was headed right for a defenseless Alone. She raised her arms in front of her face to protect herself, but the wolf never hit her.

Alone looked up to see Near standing in front of her, his staff slightly outstretched as a pale blue barrier stood between him and the wolf, knocking the animal back as it collided with the magical wall. Before the wolf could get back up, Scarlet rushed at it, driving her sword through it's chest. Matt, meanwhile, was finishing off the first wolf, slicing it's neck. As the battle ended, everyone's names and life meters vanished.

Alone let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Near."

Near nodded a silent welcome. "We will have to be more careful from now on. Though we suffered no injuries this time, if we don't keep our guard up, we will not be so lucky again. Of course, I will offer aid to anybody who needs it. It appears that I also have some sort of defensive magic."

"Did you see that shot? I got it right in the forehead!" Mello bragged, grinning as he looked at the wolf he had killed. "In fact, that was almost too easy! Next time-hey, why are we glowing?" His boasting was interrupted as the party momentarily glowed with a faint light.

"Sweet, I think we just leveled up!" Matt said, watching the glow fade from around his hands.

"Cool!" Scarlet grinned. "So, I guess we are at level 2 now. Hmm...I need to level up some more. Bosses usually provide a lot of experience. Let's find some big guys to take down!"

Even Mello, who always picked on Matt's love for video games, looked excited. "Just wait, I'm gonna put all those gunman you guys know to shame!"

The three ran ahead, now racing each other to see who could reach Dragon Mountain first. Near and Alone exchanged looks.

"I think they are all getting a bit too much into this." Alone said, watching them run off.

Near agreed. "Indeed."

By the time the foot of the mountain was in view, the sun was setting, giving the sky an orange glow. Tired from running, Scarlet was collapsed in the grass at the edge of the forest, while Matt was leaning against a tree trying to catch his breath.

"Man, you guys are out of shape." Mello said, slightly out of breath, but still standing. "I think you need to lay off the video games and start exercising." He took a seat on the ground, waiting for Alone and Near to catch up, who had refused to run after them.

"I'm surprised we were even able to run that far." Scarlet said, sitting up. "I mean, look, we ran through almost the entire forest. In real life, we wouldn't have made it that far."

Matt joined Mello and Scarlet on the grass, forming a triangle between the three of them. "At least we have better endurance so we won't get tired out during a fight. I bet we'll be even better after we level up some more."

Scarlet looked up at the darkening sky. "I wonder how long it's been. I hope we don't get stuck in here until morning. Roger will be worried and they'll be looking for us all over."

Matt shrugged. "I wouldn't worry about it. Game time is usually a lot faster than real life, right? Besides, there's gotta be a way to stop playing. Nobody would make a game you can't stop playing."

"Unless that's why it was stored away to begin with." Alone said, having finally caught up with the group, Near walking beside her.

"Nah, there's gotta be a way to get out."

Alone raised an eyebrow. "And do you know how we can do that?"

"Er..." Matt looked down to the ground, trying to come up with an answer, only to discover he had none. He had jumped right in without question, assuming there would be no difficulties. After all, he had played many video games, and was very skilled at it. He didn't believe there was anything in a game that he couldn't accomplish. "Well...I'm not sure, but we'll find a way. Worst comes to worst, we just beat the game. It has to let us out once we beat it."

"How long do you think it is?" Scarlet asked. "Some games are really long, particularly RPGs."

Mello stood up, brushing himself off. "Well, only one way to find out. Let's hurry up and find these dragons or whatever that we are supposed to beat."

Even though they were foreign to the land, it was painfully obvious that there was a serious problem with Dragon Mountain. It looked as if an enormous hole had been blasted out of one of the sides as well as the top of the mountain. WIth the hole being at the base of the mountain, it was a wonder how it was even still standing. Though it seemed sturdy now, it would surely collapse on itself eventually, especially if there was even a small earthquake. It was also obvious that whatever broke open the mountain was a lot more powerful than explosives. Matt and Scarlet guessed it was the work of a powerful magic, Mello didn't care what caused it, Alone was trying to keep her distance despite the fact they'd have to enter, and Near was trying to find a logical explanation, still not satisfied with the theory of magic despite the fact he was currently a White Mage himself.

With Matt and Mello taking the lead, the group entered the mountain. The inside was far more complex than was possible for a mountain- in real life anyway. The inside had the typical setup of a dungeon, with doors that had to be opened by solving a puzzle within the room, treasure chests that looked completely out of place being on the inside of a mountain, and lava with creaky wooden bridges being the only thing allowing anybody across the chasms. To anybody not used to the common dungeon in any RPG, it was a strange sight indeed.

The first room upon entering was, like the hole that led into it, rather large. It was dimly lit, with torches lining the jagged stone walls. Strangely, the flames were all the same size, didn't blow out very easily, and didn't seem to burn down the stick of wood that should have been fueling them. It was a small detail, however, that nobody bothered to question. Everybody's attention was more focused on the fact there didn't appear to be a door or hole leading further into the mountain. A large chasm of lava split the room into two, the bridge leading across looking as if it would break the moment somebody laid a foot on it. The combination of all these obstacles would have easily discouraged anybody from attempting to move forward, but Matt wasn't so easily scared off. He marched boldly across the bridge, as if passing over lava on a rickety bridge was an everyday task. Mello hesitated for a moment, but followed after Matt when his friend made it safely to the other side. After Mello, Scarlet then made her way across, Near following after her. Alone stood stubbornly in front of the bridge, refusing to cross.

"I'm not crossing that. It could fall down any second, and I'd rather not be boiled alive."

"C'mon, Alone! If I can cross without a problem, so can you." Scarlet encouraged her friend. "It's not that bad."

"Yeah, and what if it decides to give in now that four people just crossed it?"

Mello gave an aggravated sigh. "Just how do you expect us to get out of here with you standing there and complaining? Let's go or we're leaving you behind!"

Alone glared. She knew Scarlet wouldn't just walk away, but Mello certainly would. With a deep breath, she stepped onto the bridge. It creaked and swayed underneath her feet, but didn't break. She carefully took another step, ready to jump back should the wood start to crack. Finally, she made it over to the other side, and the bridge was still in one piece.

"Okay, so we crossed the bridge. Now what?" Alone asked, bringing attention to the fact they couldn't see any doors or ways forward.

"I found something!" Matt called from one corner of the room. The group immediately looked over, expecting to see a way out, but instead, the redhead was crouched beside a treasure chest.

"What is a treasure chest doing in a cave?" Mello asked, eying the box suspiciously.

"We're in a dungeon. There are always treasure chests in dungeons." Matt made it sound like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Mello rolled his eyes. "Of course. Because people always lock their treasures in chests and put them in dungeons."

"Hey, it's open!"

Scarlet bounced over. "Oooh, what's in it?"

Matt held up a brown leather pouch that jingled with metal coins. "Money."

"Aww." Scarlet frowned. "I was hoping it'd be something a little more...cool. Like a special item or something."

Matt stood up, pocketing the gold. "Well, we can buy special items with money."

"Yeah, true."

"Uh...guys?" Alone interrupted, her voice anxious.

The lava was bubbling furiously underneath the bridge, spitting as the bubbles popped. Without warning, several globs of lava shot up, landing mere inches away from the group. The bubbling gradually calmed to it's original state, and, for a moment, everything seemed fine.

"Well, that...was...what the hell are those?!" Mello pointed to the 5 puddles of lava that had been spit out of the chasm. They stirred, and slowly rose up, taking on a small, humanoid form. The outside of the creatures hardened, forming a tough skin. Their small eyes glowed with a white heat, lava dripping from their mouths where saliva would have been on any other creature.

Mello aimed his gun and pulled the trigger, but the bullet only ricocheted off of the monster's head. It then retaliated with an attack of it's own, spitting lava at the blonde, He made a move to dodge, but the fiery liquid singed his left shoulder. He hissed with pain as his shoulder burned and the life meter above his head decreased by a fourth.

"How are we supposed to fight what we can't damage?!" Alone yelled as one of her arrows broke against the hard exterior of one of the creatures.

Matt stood back, searching the monsters for a weakness. With daggers as weapons, he had to be close to his enemy to attack, and getting too close didn't seem like a good idea at the moment. A glint caught his eye. At the base of the monsters' necks were small, red stones. Chances were, that was their weakness.

"Aim for those red stones at the bases of their necks!" He instructed the rest of the group.

When Alone shot another arrow, the stone shattered instead of her weapon. The lava monster let out a gurgling cry as it's skin cracked, the seething hot liquid inside spilling out, once again becoming a puddle lifeless lava before vanishing into the air. Satisfied with the outcome, she proceeded to take down a second creature.

Ducking as a stream of lava flew overhead, Scarlet rushed her opponent. Before it got a chance to spit at her again, she jammed her sword through the red stone, killing the monster.

"Scarlet, behind you!" Near called out as another monster attempted to attack the girl from behind.

Scarlet yanked her sword from the creature she had just killed, brining it back far enough to slam the hilt into the one that had attempted to sneak attack her. Though the stone didn't break, it did crack, causing the monster to stumble back. Scarlet spun around, finishing off the monster as the blade of her sword caught the base of it's neck.

The final monster was eliminated by Matt, who had managed to get close enough while it was distracted with trying to attack Mello, cleaving it's stone in to two with his dagger.

WIth all the lava monsters defeated, Near kneeled beside Mello, who was clutching his injured shoulder and biting bottom his lip in pain. "Let me see."

Mello turned away from the younger boy. "I don't need help. I'm fine."

"You're not fine." Matt said, frowning at Mello's life meter. "Stop being stubborn and let him heal you."

Reluctantly, Mello moved his hand away from his wound, granting Near access. As the wound began to heal, Mello could feel the pain recede. Soon, all that was left was a dull throbbing and a scar where he had been burned.

"I could have kept going without being healed, you know." Mello said, determined to make sure Near knew that he hadn't been too badly hurt and hadn't really needed his help.

The boy twirled his white hair. "I know."

As if something had been triggered, a secret door in the wall opened, heavily dragging to the side and granting entrance into the room beyond. The five walked forward, stepping into an even larger room. Standing in the center was a tall man, garbed in black robes, three large dragons sitting behind him.


	4. World 1 3

Deep growling shook the air as the three dragons glared at the intruders, their golden eyes glowing in the dim room. Each dragon was unique, with it's own look, and probably different powers. The one on the far left was red, its scales spiky. It's wings were large, but its arms were the short. A bulky green dragon sat in the middle. Unlike the red dragon, the green one had more rounded scales. It's fangs and claws were by far the largest of the three dragons, each bigger than Matt's daggers and just a bit shorter than Scarlet's sword. The third dragon that sat on the far right was the smallest. It's light blue scales were small and sleek, having the appearance of small shards of glass.

The dark-robed man grinned at the group that had assembled in the room. "I must give you all credit: nobody has ever actually made it this far. Some that wandered here in attempt to confront me turned away when they didn't realize there was a hidden door. Most were killed by the monsters that roam near this mountain. Unfortunately, this is as far as you will get. But don't worry, you will not die completely in vain, you will all make nice snacks for my pets."

Maniacal laughter echoed off the stone walls as the man gave the typical laugh that all evil people seemed to enjoy doing. If his desire was to intimidate the group, he failed miserably. Mello raised an eyebrow, Matt rolled his eyes, and Alone looked at the man as if he belonged to a mental institution. The laughter abruptly stopped when Near's item pouch began to glow crimson. The boy pulled out the gem that the little girl had given him earlier.

"You...where did you get that?!" The man took a step forward, reaching out as if Near was going to give him the stone. "Give it to me."

Near closed his fingers around the gem. "I cannot simply hand something of mine over to you, especially when it is so obvious that it is of such great importance to you."

The man clenched his fists. "If you won't give it to me, I'll have to force it away from you!"

Scarlet stepped in front of Near, holding her sword in a defensive position. "What exactly do you want with it?"

"What do I want with it? Girl, do you know what that is? Within that stone is the essence of the dragons, the key to summoning forth ancient creatures of lore, even more powerful than the three you see here." He spread his arms out to indicate the dragons standing behind him. "With these creatures, nobody will dare oppose me. I'll tear this land down, and then rebuild it from scratch, with me as it's sole ruler. All of Harial will bow before me! The ancient monsters will roam free once more!"

"Why is he telling us all about his secret plan to take over the world?" Mello mumbled to Matt as the man continued with his speech.

Matt shrugged. "All bad guys seem to feel the need to reveal all of their plans to the heroes before the big fight, being as over-confident as they are that they are going to win anyway."

A mischievous grin formed on Scarlet's lips. "You know, I bet he is so busy ranting, he wouldn't even notice if a couple of us happened to...slip away."

Matt seemed to catch on and turned to Scarlet. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I'm pretty confident that we are on the same track."

"Then let's go."

Without another word to the others, Matt and Scarlet slunk away, heading towards the still rambling man. Alone tried to get their attention to ask what they were doing, but Scarlet just held a finger to her lips and motioned for them to stay put. While she approached the man at his left, Matt approached from his right. The man had finally noticed that the two redheads were no longer standing before him, and turned to see Scarlet right next to him, smiling.

"Hello."

Before he had time to react, Matt was behind the man, the blade of one of his daggers at the man's throat.

"You-how did-when-" The man stuttered, trying to figure out how they had snuck up on him.

Matt sighed. "You talk too much." With that, he slit the man's throat, letting him fall to the ground. He stepped over the body, high-fiving Scarlet.

"Wow...that was...easy." Alone said, amazed that the self-proclaimed ruler of the world would be so outright stupid.

"That's all well and good, but uh...what about those three dragons behind you?" Mello pointed behind Matt and Scarlet, who both turned around to find themselves facing three hungry looking dragons.

The green dragon snapped at Matt and Scarlet, attempting to scoop them both up in it's dagger-like teeth. They quickly leaped back, Scarlet jumping to the left while Matt dodged to the right. Though that got them away from the middle dragon, they were now in front of the dragons on either side. The two dragons reared their heads back. Fire burst from the red one's mouth, and would have cooked Scarlet to a crisp had Near not raised a shield before her just in time. The fire was deflected by the shield, giving the girl enough time to run away. On the far left, the blue dragon shot a stream of ice from it's mouth. Matt tried to leap out of the way, but his foot was caught in the blast, encasing it in ice and freezing it to the ground. He fell face down onto the ground, struggling to get free. Unsheathing both daggers, he began trying to hack away at the ice gluing him to the ground.

As the dragon brought it's large, open mouth close to Matt, Mello and Alone aimed their weapons at the ice dragon, firing at it's face to distract it's attention. The bullet simply ricocheted off of it's glassy scales while the arrow broke, but it was enough to garner the giant lizard's attention.

Leaving Matt to try and free himself, the blue dragon stomped towards it's two attackers. Mello and Alone backed up, firing their weapons to no avail. It roared and let lose another stream of ice. Near threw up another barrier, the ice reflecting off of it and freezing the walls where it hit.

"We can't damage it!" Alone yelled, frustrated.

The red dragon growled, joining it's blue comrade and chasing the group into a corner.

"Now, what?!" Mello asked Scarlet, reloading his gun.

Scarlet glanced from the blue dragon, to the red one, and back again. "Fire and ice... We need to get them to attack each other, they are each other's weakness. Near, we'll need you for this."

"What is it you need me to do?"

"When one of them fires, cast that reflection spell you used before, but angle it so that it hits the opposite dragon. Can you do that?"

Near nodded. "It should be simple enough." He measured out the distance between himself and the dragons in his head, took a few steps back and to the left, and raised his staff into a ready position.

"Everyone, behind Near!" Scarlet commanded, and Mello and Alone moved to stand behind the small boy. "Mello, grab the red dragon's attention by firing at him so that he shoots back at you. Near, when he does that, raise the barrier so that it'll hit the blue dragon. If you do that, they might turn on each other. I'll be back, I'm going to help Matt!"

Leaving the three with their instructions, Scarlet ran back to where Matt was still frozen to the ground. With the other two dragons distracted, the green dragon had decided to steal the blue one's prey, and was advancing on the trapped Matt. When Scarlet got there, Matt had already managed to hack some of the ice away, but it wasn't enough to get his foot free. She jabbed her sword into the frozen mass, being careful not to aim it so that, should it break, she wouldn't accidentally stab Matt. The ice began to crack, then finally released the boy's foot. He scrambled to his feet just in time for the two to avoid becoming dinner.

A loud roar resounded throughout the cave, and all attention was brought to the fire and ice dragons. Scarlet's strategy had been successful, leaving the ice dragon with a large burn on it's chest and ticked at the fire dragon. It fired back, freezing the fire dragons' wings. The two were now engaged in a war between each other, fire and ice flying back and forth.

"Guys, get out of there!" Matt yelled as Near, Mello and Alone were almost singed. The three didn't need to be told again, ducking under a stream of ice and running for the opposite side of the cave.

Alone suddenly stopped, her green eyes growing wide. "Scarlet! Matt!"

Having been distracted with the battle between the red and blue dragons, Matt and Scarlet had forgotten about the green one that had caught up to them in only three steps of it's massive legs. Alone quickly hitched an arrow in her bow, pulled back, and let go.

Scarlet screamed as the dragon loomed above her and Matt, opening it's large jaw and coming at them too quickly for them to avoid being eaten. Matt futilely attempted to protect Scarlet and himself, as if his two daggers would do anything against the dozens that lined the dragons gaping maw. Thick saliva splashed at Matt's feet when suddenly the dragon reared back, roaring in pain.

An arrow was lodged in the green dragon's right eye, blood streaming down it's face. Trying to take advantage of the opportunity, Mello fired a shot at it's other eye only to miss the dragon's flailing head. It swung it's long claws about in rage, trying to slash whatever it could reach. Matt had to pull the still stunned Scarlet out of the way before she wound up beheaded.

When the dragon finally stopped swinging it's head and realized it still had one good eye, Mello took a shot once more, this time successfully blinding the creature completely. With no sense of sight, it attacked in a blind rage, biting at the air and swinging it's arms and tail in hopes of catching somebody.

Matt turned his attention to the group. "Alone, Scarlet, you two can go take care of the other two dragons, just make sure that they keep fighting until they kill each other or until they are weak enough for you to finish them off. Mello and I will take care of this guy. Near, you stay with the girls so you can protect them if necessary. Go!"

Alone, Scarlet and Near left Mello and Matt to deal with the blinded green dragon, returning to the fighting red and blue dragons. The creatures had had gone into an all out brawl, the fire dragon biting the ice dragon's neck while the ice dragon dug it's claws into the fire one's face. The red dragon recoiled after almost getting one of it's eyes slashed out. A stream of ice quickly covered it's face, clamping it's jaw shut and freezing over it's large nostrils. Unable to open it's mouth, it could not melt the ice with it's flames, and with its airways covered with thick ice, it could not breathe. Refusing to go down alone, it tried to wrestle the blue dragon, but now the ice dragon had the upper hand and could easily fend off its attacker.

Scarlet turned to Alone and Near. "If we can distract the ice dragon long enough for the red dragon to get it's claws on it, then the red one can probably kill it."

"Then the red one will suffocate to death." Near finished Scarlet's thought. "I see."

"So then we just need to draw its attention to us and give the red dragon an opening for attack before it dies." Alone said, already pulling an arrow back on her bow. She let the arrow fly, hitting the blue dragon just above its eye. At first, the dragon ignored it, focusing its attention on avoiding the red dragon's claws. Scarlet rushed over, digging her sword under it's scales and into its foot. Near held a barrier around Scarlet to deflect any attacks.

"You have to hurry, I can't keep this up for very long. This excessive use of magic is beginning to drain my energy."

Scarlet nodded, stabbing the dragon once again while a stream of ice was deflected by Near's barrier. When it realized that ice wasn't working, the dragon took a powerful swipe at the barrier, shattering it. Barrier gone, it went to take a slash at Scarlet when it was tackled by its former comrade. The fire dragon dug its claws into the ice one's neck, slashing until its opponent fell to the ground, struggled under the red dragon's weight, then became motionless.

By now the fire dragon was becoming dizzy due to lack of oxygen. It clumsily scratched at the ice suffocating it, unable to penetrate the thick frozen muzzle. It fell against the wall, flailing as it hit the ground. It twitched a few more times before it too fell motionless.

Alone turned around, bringing her attention back to Matt and Mello, who were still combating the green dragon. "The front side of its neck is its weak spot!" She yelled to them, having noticed the lack of scales around the blue dragon's neck when the fire one had slashed at it.

Dodging a claw swipe, Mello aimed his gun and shot at the dragon's neck. Sure enough, the bullet penetrated the unprotected flesh of the creature's neck. He quickly fired two more shots, bringing the dragon to the ground. Its roar came out in what sounded more like a gurgle, spitting blood into the air. Matt dragged his daggers across the green dragon's neck, finally killing it.

The crimson gem in Near's pocket began to glow again. The boy pulled it out, wondering what it was reacting to this time. Suddenly, the bodies of the dead dragons began to dissolve, and, once they had completely vanished, the stone shattered.

"What was that about?" Mello asked, looking at Near's now empty hand.

"Maybe since the dragons were defeated, the stone made it so they could never be called forth again, destroying itself." Matt suggested with a shrug.

The group began to glow again, gaining another 2 levels, extending their life meters. Matt's life meter was the lowest, having gone from green to a light orange, a little over half of it gone. Mello and Scarlet had only suffered slight damage, while Alone and Near managed to make it out of the battle unscathed. Despite the fact Near's life meter was full, all the magic he had cast left him tired and unable to cast any healing magic.

"Will you be alright, Matt?" Near asked, eyeing the orange meter above his head.

"I'll be fine. Nothing serious, just a few scratches. That and getting my foot frozen to the ground probably didn't help. Anyway, let's get out of here."

Mello looked around. "Uh...so where to now?"

As if on cue, a beam of light blue light formed from the ground before them. It was large enough for all five of them to stand in and still be fully engulfed.

"I guess that's where." Scarlet said. "It'll probably warp us to wherever we need to be next." She stepped forward, the others following her. Once all of them were covered by the light, the room around them dissolved until they were surrounded by darkness. A new scene appeared before them, leaving them standing before a familiar cottage. Standing outside was Mortimer the Wise, leaning on his cane with a large smile on his face.

"Ah, my children, you have done it! Harial is saved!"

A large applause erupted from all around, and the group found themselves surrounded by a large crowd, all cheering for the heroes. As the applause died down, Mortimer began to speak again.

"Your legacies shall forever be remembered. Thank you, from the bottoms of our hearts." There was more applause as Mortimer bowed to the group, Norbert croaking happily in the grass beside him. Slowly, the crowd began to disperse, until the group and Mortimer were the only ones remaining.

"Congratulations on beating the first level!" At this, Mello rolled his eyes. "You may now proceed to the following worlds, but be warned, they will not be as easy. Many dangers await you. It is up to you to train yourselves, gain new abilities and weapons, and most of all, remember to work together." Another beam of light shot up from behind the group. "Now go, young heroes, and face your next challenge!"

Alone sighed, "How many levels are there? I was hoping this would be it..."

"Alright!" Matt said excitedly. "I wonder what's next! Maybe a war level, or perhaps a racing game, or maybe it'll be like Grand Theft Auto and we have to run from the police!"

Near shook his head. "Let's just hurry up, I wish to return to the real world."

Matt, Near, Scarlet, and Alone all walked into the circle of light. Mello began to follow, but stopped and turned around.

"Mello, what are you doing? Let's go!" Alone said, impatient.

"Hold on, hold on. I need to do something first." Pulling out his gun, Mello aimed at Mortimer, who was repeating what he had already finished saying. Without a second thought, Mello pulled the trigger, finally shutting the old man up.

Scarlet's mouth dropped open. "You shot Mortimer!"

"Tch, he had it coming to him. Okay, we can go now."

With that, Mello joined the others in the beam of light. Mortimer's cottage, the field, and Mortimer's dead body all vanished from sight, once again surrounding the group in darkness, the next world awaiting their arrival.

_Author's Note: So, Mello finally got to shoot Mortimer! A couple different people asked for it, so you got it! Anyway, that's the end of the first world. I'm still not sure how long this will be, but it's still got at least a few more chapters to go. _


	5. Bonus Stage! Chocolately Maze

_Author's Note: Somebody suggested that I have a candy-themed world. Though I didn't quite make an entire world of candy, it did give me the idea for a Bonus Level chapter, as well as a base to start this chapter with. So thank so the anonymous reader "mattieissokool" for the idea! Enjoy!_

* * *

A faint, yet sweet smell wafted in the air. Large, brown walls surrounded Near, Matt, Mello, Scarlet and Alone on three sides, leaving only one way for them to go. The walls were so tall that nobody had any hope of climbing them, and there were neither doors nor windows anywhere in sight. In fact, the only things around were the walls and the brown floor the group was standing on. Everyone seemed to have been healed after completing the last level, as any injuries they had were gone, and all their clothing was cleansed of bloodstains and looked good as new.

Mello sniffed the air, knowing almost instantly what the scent was. "Chocolate."

Alone nodded in agreement. "Definitely chocolate. No strawberry jam though."

The blonde began walking forward, searching for the source of the scent. "It's around here somewhere. I know it is." He walked to the end of the corridor, which abruptly ended and turned to his left. As he disappeared behind the corner, the rest of the group followed, Alone eager to catch up with him. As they continued, the path stopped before them, splitting to both sides.

"Are we in a maze?" Scarlet asked, looking down the path to her left, then to her right. Both paths looked identical.

"It appears so." Near responded, twirling his white hair and carefully considering the surrounding area. Compared to his usual attitude, the boy seemed to have grown a slight interest in the game.

Mello sniffed the air again, taking a few steps down the right path, then a few down the left. He repeated the process several times before finally stopping in the middle, aggravated. "I can't figure out where the scent is stronger! It smells equal both ways!"

Near gave an obvious solution, "Instead of trying to find our way via smell, why don't we go through the maze and figure it out as we go?"

"Shut up, Near!" Mello snapped. "There is nothing wrong with my sense of smell! I know for a fact that I smell chocolate!"

Matt quickly intervened before his friend got any angrier. "Maybe there is chocolate on both sides. I mean, it is a maze, so it'd try to trick us as many was as it can. Maybe the smell is just to serve as a distraction and confuse us."

Though still glaring at Near, Mello seemed to calm down. "I guess that's a possibility, since I know I'm not wrong. Yes, that must be it, they are purposely trying to confuse us! Okay, so which way?"

Near turned to the right path and began walking. "I should be able to figure it out once we get a little farther in."

Following Near's lead, the group wandered the chocolate-brown corridors, taking turn after turn, running into dead ends, walking back, taking another turn, and choosing from split ways enough times to have almost anybody utterly lost. They continued on for a good 15 minutes, which, to Mello especially, felt much longer.

"Uuuugh! Near, how much longer are you going to drag us around? We have been walking for at least an hour!" Mello complained.

"It has only been about 15 minutes." Near said, throwing the blonde a glance.

Mello groaned. "I still smell chocolate, but the scent hasn't changed a bit! Not to mention the fact that everything is brown! I want my chocolate now!"

"You know, I think it's the walls that smell like chocolate." Alone pointed out, sniffing one of the walls.

Running his fingers across the wall, Mello's blue eyes widened. "The color, the smell, the texture…that's it! It is the walls! They must be made out of chocolate!" Before anybody could say anything else, Mello was licking the wall. After running his tongue half a foot up the wall, he quickly pulled back and spat on the floor. "Ugh, this doesn't taste like chocolate at all!"

Near sighed. "It's probably just to act as a diversion to prevent you from calmly and logically finding your way through this maze. Judging by your reaction, I would say that it is pretty successful."

"Shut up!" Mello yelled, pulling his gun on Near. The white-haired boy did not even twitch as he stared at the gun pointed at him.

"What, are you going to shoot me? What exactly do you hope to accomplish by doing so? It certainly will not help you get through his maze."

Mello's grip on his gun tightened. "Maybe not, but it will make me feel better." He growled.

Alone quickly got between the two. "Knock it off, both of you! I'm just as fed up with this as you are, Mello, but standing here bickering isn't going to get us out of here any faster. You know Near is good at puzzles, this is the kind of thing we need him to help us accomplish. Put away the gun so we can continue on and get out of here as soon as possible!"

Though the girl was several inches shorter than Mello (despite being older than him), her hard glare was enough to get Mello to listen to her and put away his gun. Still needing a way to vent his anger, he slammed his fist into the wall. After giving it a good whack, he felt his fist sink into the wall, and looked over to notice that he had hit some sort of switch. "Uh…"

A rumbling shook the ground as a large boulder cam rumbling towards the group.

"Run!" Matt yelled, taking off. The rest didn't hesitate to follow. Even Near, who normally wasn't a runner, managed to keep up with the group, though that was probably due to the fact that they were all a bit faster in the game than they were in real life.

"Hurry! It's getting closer!" Scarlet yelled, running as fast as her legs would allow.

Alone managed to spare a glare to Mello. "I ought to shoot _you_ for this, Mello!"

"How was I supposed to know that there would just _happen_ to be a secret trap where I punched the wall?!"

"It doesn't matter, just keep running!" Matt said, almost running into a wall as they reached the end of the corridor. He quickly changed direction, skidding to the left, and came to a sudden halt when he realized he was out of danger. What he didn't take into account was the fact four more people were right behind him, ready to turn the corner at full speed. Scarlet screeched as she crashed right into him, sending them both to the ground. Mello then tripped over them, sandwiching Scarlet between himself and Matt. Next on the pile was Alone, with Near laying on top of them all.

Scarlet struggled beneath all the weight. "Get off, I can't move! I'm being crushed! Aaaaah! Please, get up!"

"Stop whining!" Mello said, waiting for Alone to get up before he could get off of Scarlet.

Scarlet sighed a breath of relief as she got to her feet. "Sorry."

"Are you claustrophobic or something?" Mello asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know if it's so serious as to call it a phobia, but I don't like small spaces, and if I get crushed or can't move, I get scared and start to freak out. I just can't stand not being able to move."

"Hey, what's that?" Alone interrupted, pointing to some words that were carved into a wall. Matt walked over and the group fathered around to find out what it said.

"The chocolate is a lie…the chocolate is a lie…the chocolate is a lie…the chocolate is a lie…the chocolate is a lie… That's all it says."

Not too far away from the inscription was a human skeleton sitting on the ground, propped up against the wall. Scarlet wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"I guess he couldn't find his way out."

Mello did not look happy. "Do you think the chocolate is really a lie? There had better be a whole truckload at the end of this maze, or I'm going to hunt down whoever designed this level and torture them just as they are torturing me!"

"I've got it figured out." Near suddenly said, drawing all the attention from the skeleton and the inscription to himself.

"What? The chocolate?" Mello asked.

Near shook his head. "No, the maze. I know how to get through. Follow me." Without looking behind him, the youngest boy continued his way through the maze, once again leading the way as the others followed. Finally, after a few more twists and turns, Near had reached his destination, though it was not quite the scene that he had hoped for.

Scarlet looked skeptically at the wall before them. "Uh, Near, this is a dead end."

Despite his mood, Mello couldn't help but grin. "What's the matter, Near? Didn't quite have it all figured out, eh?"

The white-haired boy stared at the end of the corridor. "No, I know I was right. There is something else."

"Just admit it, you were wrong!"

"I don't think he was wrong." Matt said, getting a glare from his blonde friend. The redhead pointed to the middle of the wall, which, upon closer inspection, was cracked. "This must be a false wall. I bet if we hit it hard enough, it will crumble and the end of the maze will be right on the other side."

Alone inspected the crack in the wall. Light was shining through, so there had to be something on the other side. "That's well and all, but how do we break it? I don't think our weapons will be enough."

Matt looked thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe if we ram into it hard enough we'll be able to get through."

"You have got to be kidding." Scarlet said, raising an eyebrow. She crossed her arms stubbornly. "I refuse to throw myself into a wall in hopes that it will break. There's got to be an item around somewhere that will help us get through, like a bomb or something."

Mello shrugged. "I don't have a problem with it. Besides, I don't feel like trekking through this place any longer to find an item that might not even exist. Let's just break it down by force."

Matt looked to Alone and Near, who both shook their heads. He then turned to Mello. "Well, I guess it's just us. Ready? On the count of three." He and Mello positioned themselves as if they were playing football and ready to tackle and opponent. "One…two…THREE!"

Both boys ran full speed at the wall in question. Much to Alone, Near and Scarlet's surprise, the tackle was successful, and the two boys fell right through the wall as it crumbled from the assault.

"Chocolate!" Mello yelled upon seeing the room before him. At the mention of chocolate, Alone's attention was immediately seized by the room.

"On the other side of the wall stood boxes upon boxes of all kinds of chocolate. On the far end, a large sign made of dark, white and milk chocolate letters read, "Congratulations!" Under it sat a throne, also made of chocolate. As Mello scrambled to his feet, carelessly stepping on Matt in the process, a synthetic male voice sounded from seemingly nowhere, stopping Alone in her tracks.

"Congratulation's on completing the bonus level!" All eyes looked around, trying to find the source of the sudden voice. Mello quickly dismissed it, not caring, and made a dash to the chocolate, only to run right into an invisible wall.

"What the hell?! I want my chocolate!" He continued to try to find a way to his chocolate haven while the synthetic voice kept talking.

"Your time was: twenty-six minutes and thirty-nine seconds. You beat the maze with forty-two minutes and fifty-one seconds remaining! That's a new record!"

Alone looked appalled. "You mean we were being _timed_?! What would have happened if we didn't make it out in time?"

"For completing this bonus round, you will gain an extra level! For your completion time for twenty-six minutes and thirty-nine seconds, you will gain an additional two levels!" As the voice announced the reward, the group glowed with the now-familiar light as they gained an additional three levels.

"I don't care about your damn level-ups! I just want the chocolate!" Mello complained, still trying to find a way around the invisible wall, to no avail. The maze began to disappear as the group was sent to their next level. "NO! NOOOO! MY CHOCOLAAAAAAATE!" Mello's voice echoed as the maze- as well as the chocolate- vanished.

* * *

_Author's Note: Sorry it's a bit short, I figured that since it's just a bonus stage, it shouldn't be too long. My "The chocolate is a lie" bit actually came spawned from the famous "the cake is a lie" line from the game Portal (I have not been able to actually play the game, but I do know about the cake). The idea came to me when I decided that the chocolate would just be a tease and distraction and that poor Mello would not actually get to eat any of it. The next chapter will get back into the main game with a new world. A big thanks to everyone that has been commenting, alerting, and favoriting this, it really makes me happy to see people enjoying it!_


	6. World 2 1

"My...chocolate..."

"C"mon, Mel. It's not that big of a deal. It's just digital chocolate, you'll get over it."

Matt soon found himself staring into the eyes of a very angry Mello as the blonde grabbed his friend by the collar of his shirt.

"Don't tell _me_ to get over it! It's your fault we are in this mess to begin with! I've had enough of this stupid game! I want out and I want out now!"

Scarlet frowned as Mello snapped at his best friend. She hated seeing people argue. "Guys, can we please not fight?"

Mello turned to Scarlet, still grasping Matt's shirt. "You didn't exactly help either, Scarlet! You were just as eager to jump in as he was!"

"I didn't think it was going to be this hard..."

"It doesn't matter. What matters is we are stuck here with who knows how many levels to go through! You know what? I'll find my own way out. You guys can have fun playing your stupid game." With that, Mello half-shoved Matt back as he let him go and stomped away, disappearing around a corner.

The group fell silent. Matt looked torn between chasing after Mello and giving him time to be alone and cool down. For the first time, they realized their surroundings had totally changed.

It was dark out, and a thin fog stretched across the area, not quite enough to obscure anybody's vision, but enough to add a sense of uneasiness to the atmosphere. The surrounding run-down buildings all seemed abandoned. In fact, the whole city looked like desolate. None of the street lights were working, leaving the large, round moon as the only source of light.

Finally, somebody broke the silence.

"Holy... Is that a zombie?!"

Several gunshots followed Mello's voice. The four ran in the direction Mello had taken off. They found him facing down two zombies. The zombies moved rather slowly, much like the stereotypical zombie does, half-dragging their feet across the pavement as they approached Mello. Some of their rotting flesh was completely missing from certain areas, exposing the discolored bone. In addition to the disturbing moans, the living dead smelled atrocious. A third zombie was already laying motionless on the ground, four gunshot wounds in it's chest. The blonde was already aiming at the next closest zombie. Two shots hit it's chest, and the third caught the zombie's head.

"Yeah! Headshot!" Matt yelled as the zombie's head proceeded to explode. The monster fell to the ground with a dull thud.

The third and final zombie was getting closer. Mello aimed his gun while taking several steps back. Learning from the previous zombie and Matt's outburst, he took careful aim at the once living human's head, the first shot causing the zombie to stumble back with a groan, and the second to blow it's head clean off it's shoulders, spattering gore and rotting flesh.

"That'll teach ya to mess with me when I'm in a bad mood!" Mello yelled at the corpses laying on the ground. With a triumphant smile, he stuck his gun back into it's holster. He turned to face Matt, who was grinning at his friend's victory. Mello sighed. Shooting those zombies had helped relieved some of his anger. He was still upset with Matt, but he realized he'd need the gaming geek's help if he were to make it out. "Alright, lead the way, O Mighty Gamer."

Despite the sarcasm and eye roll Matt received, he couldn't help but be humored. "Well, I believe we have one of two choices here. A: we have to find and eliminate all the zombies in order to proceed to the next round, or B: we are trapped in a zombie-infested city and have to figure out what is going on and how we can get out. Based on the atmosphere, I'm leaning more towards B myself. Scarlet, what do you think?"

Scarlet looked around at the surroundings, trying to figure out their new objective. "Well, it looks to me like more of a survival/horror than a straight out shooter. It's more creepy than a shooter, and we don't have enemies coming at us from all sides."

Matt nodded. "Exactly. So, chances are there is going to be some underground lab or something where it all started. I bet if we find that, we'll know what to do next."

Aone raised an eyebrow. "And just how are we supposed to find said underground lab? This place is huge!"

"Just look for any buildings that stand out from the rest. I bet we can't even go into half these places. They are probably locked and we won't be able to get in no matter how hard we try. That's just how games work." Leaving the explanation at that, Matt started heading off in search any peculiar looking buildings. Three of them followed, but Scarlet didn't move.

Alone looked back at her friend. "Scarlet? Are you coming?"

Scarlet frowned, looking around cautiously. "If this really is one of those survival/horror games, does that mean things are going to jump out at us?"

Mello rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you are afraid of a game. C'mon now."

"If it was just a game, then that'd be fine, but we are_ in_ the game, so it feels real."

"Don't worry, Scarlet. We won't leave you by yourself." Alone shot a glance at Mello, "And we won't make fun of you."

Still a bit scared, but reassured by her friend, Scarlet followed the rest, keeping herself close between Alone and Near. She felt safer with others around her. She also reminded herself she had a sword at her waist should anything decide to sneak up on her. Fighting zombies, she'd prefer a long-ranged weapon, but at least she had a weapon. Better a sword than the daggers Matt carried.

It didn't take long until a building looking rather out of place came into view. Sitting on a corner was a rather small house. It was a bit run down, but lights were on inside. Unlike every other building, it appeared to be inhabited, making it obvious that this was going to be the first stop. Matt approached, knocking on the old wooden door. Movement could be heard inside, but nobody spoke.

"Hello? We are looking for help." Matt called, figuring whoever was inside might have thought they were zombies. It would make sense for anybody to be reluctant to open their door in a place infested with the living dead. Apparently, this worked, because footsteps thudded on the other side of he door. With a creak, the door opened a crack, and a beady dark eye peered out, assuring the owner that there were indeed living humans at his door and not monsters. Satisfied, he opened the door and stepped aside, ushering the group in.

"Quickly, quickly!" Once the five were inside, the old man closed the door and locked it shut with several bolts.

The inside of the house was cluttered. Food was stuffed onto shelves , and the refrigerator was presumed to be full of supplies as well. Various weaponry lined the walls, from small handguns to large machine guns. It was a wonder how the old man even had such weapons, as it looked like he would break his back just trying to lift the larger ones up.

Eyes practically sparkling with wonder, Mello approached a corner where a machine gun and magnum revolver were stored. When he attempted to lift the machine gun propped up against the wall, however, he found it was stuck. It didn't appear to be restrained in any way, yet Mello could not get it to budge in the slightest. He huffed and reached for the revolver sitting on a shelf bolted to the wall. That, too, seemed as if it had been super glued to the piece of wood it was resting on.

"What the hell? Why can't I pick any of them up?!"

Matt eyed the weapons Mello was trying to rip from their spots. "Maybe they are just for decoration."

"What good are weapons if you can't use them?!"

"If you could use every weapon you saw in the background in a game, you'd have an infinite rocket launcher the first 15 minutes in and annihilate everything around you."

Mello shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

Matt rolled his eyes. "And that would defeat the purpose of the game. It'd be too easy. There would be no challenge, no game."

The blonde sighed in defeat. "Whatever."

Scarlet glanced around at the house before finally addressing it's owner. "Excuse me, but do you know what is going on here?"

The old man shook his head and spoke in a raspy, familiar voice. "I"m sure you've seen them. Everywhere, there are zombies everywhere. I've been searching for survivors, but you are the first I've seen in days."

Mello stopped when he heard the man's voice. He knew that from somewhere, and for some reason he felt it was one he'd rather not have heard. Taking his attention away from the unusable weapons, he took a good look at the man that had let them in. He was garbed in unfamiliar clothing, wearing dark robes that would help him blend in well with the darkness to avoid being spotted by zombies. His face, however, Mello knew all to well.

"Mortimer?! I thought I killed him!" The blonde didn't want to believe it, but there he was, Mortimer the Wise, up and alive as if he had never been a victim of Mello's gun.

"How did this all start?" Matt asked, seemingly unfazed by the fact that Mortimer was back.

"I'm not sure." Mortimer responded to Matt as if he never heard Mello speak. "It all started a few weeks ago when somebody claimed to have seen a man that had been murdered only a couple weeks before roaming around the graveyard one night. The woman who made the claim had been visiting the grave of a relative, but was scared out of her wits when she saw the man and took off. After that, more sightings of the deceased where reported. A small group of teenagers decided to check it out one night, figuring, like most others, that it was all some kind of crazy misunderstanding. They never returned home the next day. Search parties were sent out, but the teens weren't found."

"After that, more and more people began disappearing. Soon, people fled the city, afraid for their lives. Nobody ever believed zombies could exist, yet here there are, roaming our streets, taking on the appearance of loved ones and friends..." Mortimer trailed off, staring at the machine gun propped against the wall.

For a few moments, the only thing that could be heard was the moaning of zombies somewhere in the distance and the ticking of a large antique clock. Mortimer seemed lost in his own world. Matt wondered if that was as much information as they were going to get from him before Alone spoke.

"Do you have any idea where these zombies are coming from?"

At Alone's question, Mortimer snapped back to reality, fixing his gaze upon her. "At the edge of the city lies an old mansion. It was said that a mad scientist once lived there. It has long since been abandoned. Some say they saw the zombies around there, but it has not been confirmed. Whether it was actually seen or it was just a theory, I am afraid I do not know. Most everybody is either too afraid to investigate, or can't be bothered. The mansion sits atop of a large cliff. The way to it is a long and winding path, one that would take a couple days to follow on foot, and nobody can be bothered to climb their way up."

Matt looked thoughtful for a moment. "How do we get to it?"

"You'd have to follow this road down until you reach a split. The left road leads to the cliff. From there you can see the mansion and the path that will get you safely up the cliff." Mortimer eyed Matt suspiciously. "You aren't thinking of going up there?"

The redhead nodded. "Yep. That's just the information we needed. Thanks."

Mortimer held out a wrinkly hand. "No! You mustn't! Turn back while you still can! The zombies are everywhere, you'd never make it. Find your way out of this place and flee for safety! Get as far fro-" The old man's words were cut short as a gunshot rang out, making everyone jump.

"This time, _stay_ dead!" Mello grumbled as he holstered his gun.

Scarlet shook her head at Mello. "Anyway, I guess this mansion is where we are supposed to go."

"How are we going to get there?" Alone asked. "By the way Mortimer described it, we'd either have to climb a cliff that is who knows how high, or waste two days just walking up the normal trail."

Scarlet shrugged. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there. Maybe we'll find a car on the way or something. There's got to be a working one somewhere in this city."

Leaving Mortimer dead once again, the group made their way back to the foggy streets. They turned and continued down the road, following Mortimer's directions. Several cars were parked on the sides of the roads, but so far none of them worked. Mello had found one truck with the keys still in the ignition, but he could not get the engine to start. They had reached the fork in the road when Mello decided to try one last car. One of them seemed to stand out from the rest, though he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

Climbing into the front seat of the blue Kia, the blonde found the keys laying by the gas pedal. He grinned as the engine roared to life.

"It's about time!"

Matt didn't hesitate to get in the passenger's seat. "Sweet! And it's got plenty of gas too!" He turned to Near and the two girls before closing the door. "C'mon, get in!"

Near and Alone exchanged looks, skeptical, but squeezed in the back with Scarlet. Being the smallest, Near sat in the middle, with Scarlet behind Mello and Alone behind Matt. Near grabbed his seat belt and buckled it.

"Before we go, I must ask, Mello, how did you learn how to drive? You are not of proper driving age yet."

Mello rolled his eyes. "It's not hard, Near. Besides, this is just a game, right? I don't need to be sixteen to be able to drive."

Near looked at Mello suspiciously, but didn't pursue the topic further. "I suggest you buckle up." He mumbled to Alone, who didn't need to be told. Scarlet also clicked in her seat belt.

"Everybody ready?" Mello asked, glancing at the three in the mirror.

"Wait." Scarlet said, making Mello stop before putting his foot on the gas. "Put your seat belts on, both of you."

Mello just rolled his eyes and backed into the street.

"Hey! I said put your seat belt on!" Scarlet yelled, leaning grabbing Mello's seat and leaning forward.

"Why does it matter so much?"

"Because, if something happens, you are much less likely to get hurt if you are strapped in. Now put it on."

When Mello didn't listen and pulled the car out of reverse, Scarlet grabbed his seat, leaning forward. "Mihael Keehl! Put your seat belt on _now_!"

At the use of his real name, Mello whipped his head around and glared at Scarlet, who returned the look. "Don't you _ever_ use my real name." he growled.

"Then put on your seat belt."

"Fine. I'll put on the damn seat belt, now shut up!"

Scarlet grinned triumphantly as she sat back in her seat. She glanced to Matt, who caught her eye and buckled in before she could say anything. Alone was giggling, trying not to laugh too loud, else make Mello even more angry.

They didn't get far before a group of zombies stood in the road, attempting to block their path. Mello grinned, revving the engine as the zombies closed in. "Hold on tight!"

Without a second warning, the SUV shot forward, sending zombies flying, some being crushed and imprinting tire marks upon their rotting flesh as they became squished to the pavement. One zombie had landed on the hood of the car, crawling up to the windshield and banging on the glass.

"Get off! I can't see!" Hitting a button, Mello turned on the windshield cleaner, spraying water in the zombie's face. The liquid made the window slippery, causing the zombie to slide off the windshield. He was quickly pulled under the vehicle, smearing onto the road.

"Yes! Now that's what I'm talking about!" Mello laughed as the car continued down the road, leaving a mess of zombies in it's wake.

In the back seat, Near was clinging onto Alone, eyes wide with horror at what Mello had just pulled off. He was amazed that the vehicle was still all in one piece and that they hadn't crashed into something other than a zombie. Scarlet was rubbing her head, having banged it during the bumpy ride.

"Mello!" Alone scolded. "Are you insane? You could have gotten us killed! I'm surprised you didn't crash with that zombie on the windshield!"

"Well I didn't, did I? You are all in once piece, the zombies are out of the way, and we are on our way to that dumb mansion. You should be thanking me."

"Remind me never to get in a car with you again." Alone grumbled.

Finally recovering from the ride, Near eased back into his own seat. He stared out the front window, searching for the mansion they were supposed to be heading to.

"I think I see it!" Matt said, pointing forward.

To their right, a cliff rose up, an old mansion sitting atop it. From the distance, it was hard to tell if it was occupied. A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, briefly illuminating the ancient building. A loud moan sounded from somewhere nearby, though there ere no zombies in site.

Mello continued driving on, following the narrow path that wound around the cliff and gradually climbed up to the mansion. He stepped on the gas as not to waste any time, and managed to keep the ride rather smooth despite the uneven dirt path they had now driven onto.

Scarlet looked around outside through her window, trying to spot anything that might try to give them a hard time passing through. A few zombies were on the sides of the road here and there, but not nearly as many as she had expected to see. "You know, for a place the zombies were supposed to have originated from, I don't see many. Shouldn't they be all over the place?"

Matt shrugged. "Maybe we'll see more when we get closer. Plus, we are still at the beginning of the level. They aren't going to hit us all at once so early on in the level."

Twenty minutes driving and several squished zombies later, the SUV was nearing the entrance of the mansion's driveway. Large, rusted metal gates, barred their path. Mello contemplated ramming through, but decided to ask the others first and stopped the car.

"Somebody go check to see if it will open before I try driving right through."

Matt opened his door and stepped out. He examined the gate for a moment before turning to face the car. "It's chained up. I'm not going to be able to just get it open."

The blonde turned to the three in the back seat. "I'm going to make things easy and try ramming it open. If you want to get out, I suggest you do so now."

"Well, I'm glad you actually gave us a chance this time." Alone said, somewhat surprised as she unbuckled and opened her door.

After everyone else was out, Mello put the car back into drive. With Matt, Alone, Scarlet and Near standing a safe distance away, he backed up, slammed on the gas and drove full speed into the gate.

Scarlet winced as the sound of metal crashing into metal rang in the air. The gate had been opened and Mello was awkwardly parked inside the driveway. His door opened and he stumbled out.

"That...was awesome." Mello grinned, looking at the now open gate.

Alone looked him up and down to make sure he hadn't injured himself. "I guess he's alright."

"I'm fine. The airbag deployed, but nothing serious."

"And that's why you should always wear your seat belt." Scarlet said, walking through the gate and looking at the front of the car. It was scratched up and dented, but overall it looked like the gate took far more damage than anything else.

"Guys...I think you should look at this..."

At the tone of Matt's voice, everyone looked up. Laid out before them was a huge graveyard, stretching out further than what they could see from their position. Many of the graves looked like they had been dug up, the caskets empty. The sudden intrusion had caught the attention of the nearby zombies. The group found themselves staring down a sea of zombies as the living dead closed in on them from all directions.


	7. World 2 2

_Author's Note: Somebody asked about showing the time flow back in the real world. I did think about this, but it wouldn't really work with how I had planned. I can't really say more than that, but you will see at the end. Just keep in mind that it is an unfinished invention, and video game time is always faster than real life time (unless of course your game has an internal clock, but that's another story). Sorry for the slow update. Enjoy!_

--

There were more zombies than they could count. Scarlet came to this conclusion when she attempted to find out just how many zombies they were now facing. She had quickly counted a group of them in her head, but stopped when she realized that three more zombies were hidden between the seven she had just counted, added together with the four that were behind the three hidden ones, and what she had once thought to be nine of them a few feet away had suddenly turned into eleven. By then she had lost track of what she had already counted, gave up, and proclaimed that there were too many.

Alone turned to Matt. "Now what?"

Matt glanced around, trying to figure out their best course of action. The chances of the five of them taking on an army of zombies and getting out unharmed were extremely slim, nor did he particularly feel like wasting time on what could be an endless stream of undead. As far as he knew, it could just be one of those parts in the game where no matter how many you defeated, more would show up to take their place, giving you no other option but to retreat.

"Let's make a break for the mansion!"

Leaving the zombies behind, the group fled to the mansion door, only to find a large padlock preventing them from entering.

"Oh, come on!" Scarlet complained and kicked the door, accomplishing no more than hurting her foot. "Ow!" Alone shook her head.

"There is a note on this door." Near said, pointing to a piece of paper taped to the door. He read it aloud:

"Doyle,

I left the key in that place. I'm sorry to make you go get it, but I couldn't wait any longer. I had to do something before he discovered our secret. Anyway, you know the place I am talking about, right? Behind the graveyard, where even the moon cannot reach, buried underneath the spot where the bones of the cross meet."

Mello rolled his eyes. "Isn't that just dandy. So now we have to find this stupid key and the only way to get through it is by running through a zombie infested graveyard."

Scarlet frowned and turned to face the entourage of slowly approaching zombies. "So we have to fight them all? Are we going to be able to?"

"We don't have much of a choice. I don't think they will be too hard to take out." Matt said, unsheathing his daggers. "Besides, think of all the experience we'll get!"

"Hold on, before you attack, let me do something." Mello ran back to the SUV, got in and buckled up. After starting up the car, he back up a bit, leaving a good distance between him and the zombies. With a grin he pressed the gas, sending the vehicle flying towards the undead army. Zombies flew in all directions, to the side, in the air, landing on the hood, or being crushed beneath the wheels of the car. It went well right up until Mello hit a tombstone, blowing out the tire and causing the vehicle to veer to the side before hitting another tombstone and stopping.

Mello had now landed himself right in the middle of all the zombies. The attention had been dragged away from the rest of the group and onto him. Before he could be trapped inside, Mello got out of the car, keeping his back to the door as he faced the zombies.

With their friend trapped, Matt, Scarlet, Alone and Near got their weapons ready and rushed in to help. They couldn't get near him, but began hacking away at the zombies blocking their path. Near stood in the back, feeling rather useless as he watched the others fight.

"is there anything I can do to help?"

Scarlet glanced at him before slicing a zombie's head off of it's shoulders. "Try using healing spells. Sometimes zombie-type creatures are injured by holy magic."

Near looked skeptical, but tried it anyway. Taking a moment to cast the spell, he aimed it at the closest zombie. Sure enough, the zombie let out a groan of pain as it seemed to burn away into nothing. Near shrugged to himself and prepared another healing spell to attack with.

Having to get close to attack, Matt was barely avoiding being hurt himself. He had already had a zombie bite his arm, which stung horribly. When he finally killed his assailant, a glint on the ground caught his eye. Taking his eyes off the zombies for a second, he leaned down to discover it was a hand grenade. He scooped the weapon up, storing it in his pouch for later use, and turned his attention back to the zombies.

A scream from Mello had everyone turn in his direction. A zombie was latched onto his back, attempting to bite his neck.

"Aaah! It's humping me! Somebody, get it off! Get it off!"

Notching an arrow in her bow, Alone tried to aim at the zombie, but Mello's struggling was making it difficult. "Mello! Stand still!" When the blonde finally stopped for a moment, Alone fired, catching the zombie in the head and causing it to fall off of Mello and on to the ground. Mello proceeded to kick the zombies head hard enough to detach it from the rest of it's body, flying through the air like a soccer ball and hitting another zombie, causing it to lose it's balance and fall over. This, in turn, caused the zombies behind it to trip and fall over. Each of the zombies attempted to get back up, only to become tangled up with another zombie and fall back down.

Taking advantage of the situation, Matt pulled the pin on the hand grenade he had found. "Everybody down!" After the others had had enough time to scatter, Matt threw the grenade at the zombie pile and ran himself. Within a few seconds, the grenade exploded, sending parts of zombie flying everywhere. When it had stopped raining zombie, the group slowly looked up from whatever they had dived behind. It seemed all the remaining zombies had been killed in the attack, leaving a normal graveyard. Well, normal except for the heads, hands, and various other body parts strewn across the bloody ground.

Scarlet kept her eyes off of the scene the best she could, starting to feel queazy. It was one thing when she blew zombie's heads off in a regular video game, but another thing with she was seeing it in what felt like reality.

The stinging in Matts arm brought his attention to his wounds. "Hey, Near, think you can heal this for me?"

The young white mage took a look at the bite mark on Matt's arm. The wound did not look healthy at all. It looked to be infected, and appeared to be rotting. Near held his staff to the wound and began to cast a healing spell.

"It appears that the zombies can rot flesh if they bite or scratch their victim. I'd advise you all to be very careful around them. I can only heal so much, and you would be doomed if somebody got an injury that I could not treat. For now, Matt, you are lucky I am able to heal this, but next time it might not be so easy."

Matt nodded as Near finished healing his wound. "Right. So everybody keep your distance and don't let them touch you."

"Well, now that that is all taken care of," Mello said, reloading his gun, "let's go find that dumb key. What did it say again?"

"It's buried where the moon can't reach underneath the place where the bones of the cross meet." Near reminded him.

"That means...?"

"Well, a place where the moon can't reach means that it leaves a shadow. I'm sure the bones of the cross is literal, meaning we have to find a shadow with a cross made of bones."

Alone looked around. "But we are in a graveyard, there are crosses everywhere."

"Well, let's look for a shadow first, then look for the cross made of bones." Matt suggested. "It's probably a larger shadowed area."

Stepping over carnage, the group searched for an area that matched the description. To their pleasant surprise, it was more obvious than they had thought it would be. One of the largest graves was tucked away in a corner, a cross made of bones sitting atop it and casing a large shadow on the ground. Matt kneeled on the ground and used his daggers to dig at the spot on the shadow where the two bones of the cross met. Sure enough, a silver key was mixed in with the dirt.

"That was easy enough." Alone said, watching the key in Matt's hand glint in the moonlight. "Back to the entrance?"

Key in hand, the group made their way back to the entrance of the mansion. This time, they made it without any interruptions. The lock opened effortlessly despite the old, rusted look it had. Matt pushed open the large double doors, and the group stepped into the large room.

A large staircase took up the center of the room, leading to the second and third floors of the mansion. The walls were lined with various artwork, most depicting what were most likely previous owners of the mansion. Old fashioned candle holders sat by the entrance as well as the staircase, though no candles were lit. A large, beautiful chandelier hung from the ceiling. It was quiet, meaning either nobody was there, or everyone was asleep. It was hard to tell if it was abandoned or not. The note led one to believe that somebody indeed still lived there, but some things were dusty as if they had not been touched in a while. Looking inside one of the decorative vases, Scarlet found it to be home to a rather large spider and backed away.

Alone sneezed. "This place isn't kept up very well, there is dust everywhere. It's making my allergies act up."

Matt glanced around. "Well, I guess we can start looking around. I'm sure not all of the doors will open. We'll just take it floor by floor."

The first door Matt tried wouldn't open, already narrowing them down. The second one he tried, however, did open. It led to a sitting room of sorts, with a sofa and a couple of large, fancy chairs. What appeared to be a dead cat laid in one of the chairs, a table with an open book beside it. Curious, Matt approached the book. A sudden hissing made him jump back.

The cat sat up, hissing at Matt. Chunks of it's fur were missing, and one of it's ears looked like it had been bitten off.

Scarlet looked horrorfied. "The cats are zombies too?!"

The cat took a step forward, and the rest took a step back. Mello raised his gun and took a shot at the feline. While the bullet caught the cat's shoulder, it did little more than further anger it. With a cry it took a leap at Mello. The blonde managed to dodge the cat's vicious claws, but only just barely. He aimed another attack, but the shot missed, instead hitting the ground right beside where the cat had landed. The animal reared up, ready to pounce again. Before it could leap at Mello again, Scarlet ran it through with her sword, It screeched in pain before becoming limp.

Scarlet frowned as she pulled her sword from the dead cat. "Did they have to use a cat? Poor thing..."

Mello raised an eyebrow. "It was a zombie, Scarlet."

With the cat out of the way, Matt went back to the open book on the table. Upon closer inspection, it looked more like a diary. He read the few pages that had writing on them out loud,

"October 27

I think I've finally found it. I've worked long and hard to discover a way, and now I think I've got it. I'm going to test it out on a rat tomorrow to see how it works. Right now, I am exhausted. I hope that I will be able to sleep despite my excitement.

October 28

It worked! It took a short time for the effects to fully kick in, but it worked! All the rats I tested it on turned out exactly as I had hoped. The next step is to test it on a human. I already have the subject picked out, it is simply a matter of obtaining him. That is something I shall leave to Doyle.

October 29

Doyle brought the subject last night. I tested the solution on him, but to no avail. Perhaps it wasn't enough. It didn't work on the extra test subject Doyle brought either. I am slightly disappointed, but, as always in science, I must learn my mistake and try again.

October 30

The rats are starting to show some unusual signs. They appear to be slowing down, as if they are aging. Bald spots have started to appear. Upon further inspection, their very bodies seem to be rotting. I cannot fathom how they are still even alive. I must look in to this.

October 31"

Matt frowned as he reached the last entry. "That's how it ends. There is nothing for the thirty-first and nothing after."

Mello sighed. "Figures."

"Well, at least we know what we are dealing with now: a mad scientist doing what mad scientists do best." Alone stated as if it were a normal occurrence. "By the sound of it, whatever it was caused the zombie outbreak. The rats flesh was rotting, yet it was still alive. Sounds like a zombie to me. Plus, he tested it on a couple humans. He probably made them zombies too"

Near nodded. "We've already seen that the zombies can affect living humans based on what happened when Matt got bit. All it took was one zombie- in this case, two- to bite another human and start an entire outbreak."

"So, now we find this mad scientist and figure out what he is trying to accomplish." Scarlet said. "At least now we know what we are looking for. Do you think he is still in this mansion?"

Matt put the diary back on the table. "Probably. Let's keep looking, there is bound to be more information in this place."

Despite knowing not all the doors would open, going through the mansion's three floors still looked to be a daunting task.

"I say we split up." Mello suggested. "The faster we get through this, the better."

Scarlet frowned. "I don't like that idea. What if something happens to one of us?"

"It would be the most efficient way to get through here. There is no point in us staying in such a large group to check each room one by one." Near added. Mello looked at him in shock, a bit surprised that Near was agreeing with him.

"Well, let's just see how it goes. We'll split up for the time being, and if you run into something you don't think you can handle or think it's important, just yell. We'll come running." Matt said with a reassuring grin.

Scarlet sighed in defeat. "Okay, fine. But just find out what rooms are important that we need to look through. I'm not traveling through half this place by myself."

"That's all you need to do. Everyone just remember, stay as far away from the zombies as possible."

With that, the party split up. Mello took the third floor, Matt and Near took the second floor, and Alone and Scarlet continued on the first floor. Alone investigated the east side and left Scarlet to take care of the west.

Much to Scarlet's relief, three of the five doors wouldn't open. Now she was left with two doors she had to actually go into. She took a deep breath, and walked into the room.

She found herself to be in a rather large room that appeared to be some kind of ballroom. Glancing around, it didn't look like there was anything worth looking at, but she decided to take a peek around just in case. She had taken a few steps in when she suddenly froze.

A scream rang out through the mansion, making Alone jump. "Scarlet!" She dropped what she had been reading and made a dash for the other side of the mansion.


	8. World 2 3

Following the sound of her friend's scream, Alone rushed across the first floor of the mansion. When she reached the room Scarlet was in, she stopped in her tracks.

"Holy..."

"What is it?!" Matt yelled as he ran to the room, Near and Mello trailing behind. Towering before a frozen Scarlet was a tarantula larger than the five of them combined, with two smaller spiders crawling up to join their apparent mother.

"Perhaps we should run this time." Near said, taking into account the size and number of the spiders compared to themselves. The rest of the group seemed to agree, as they all turned to the door. Unfortunately for them, the spiders had other plans. One of the smaller ones fell down from the ceiling, blocking the door. Though it was small compared to the other spiders, it was still large enough to effectively block their path. Scarlet looked about ready to have a panic attack.

Matt cursed under his breath and unsheathed his daggers. "I guess we have no choice but to fight again."

As soon as everybody had drawn their weapons, the two spiders that had been next to their mother scurried forward. The group split apart, running to either side. Scarlet, Alone and Near dove to the right while Mello and Matt ran to the left.

"Keep a good distance away unless you are attacking!" Matt informed everyone. "They might be able to catch you in a web or spit acid."

"Acid? Matt, unless it's already biting you, spider's don't just-" Before Mello got the chance to finish his sentence. a vile liquid spewed from the mouth of one of the spiders, missing him by mere inches. "Holy crap!"

Matt shook his head. "Told ya."

"Shut up." Mello retaliated, shooting the spider and blowing off one of it's legs. It screeched in pain, but it's movement wasn't significantly hindered. Instead, it rushed at Mello, trapping him in a corner of the room. Just as he raised his arm to shoot again, the oversized tarantula spit at him again, this time drenching his hand in acid. Mello dropped his gun and screamed as the liquid burned his skin. The spider snapped at him, ready to grab him between its pincers. Just as it almost had Mello, Matt jumped on it's back, digging his daggers into it's back just below it's head. The spider reared back, causing Matt to slide down. Since his daggers were still embedded in the creature, the blades sliced two adjacent gashes down the remainder of its back as Matt slipped off. The spider fell over, landing on its back. Its seven legs curled up as the arachnid died.

On the opposite side of the room, Alone and Scarlet were having trouble taking down their opponent. Alone's arrows were doing little more than angering the spider, and Scarlet was too scared to get close enough to attack.

"Scarlet! Snap out of it!" Alone yelled. "If you don't do something we are both going to end up as lunch."

Scarlet nodded, but still seemed reluctant to approach the spider. Alone backed away while shooting another arrow, drawing attention to herself and giving Scarlet the opportunity to strike. Taking a deep breath, Scarlet finally raised her sword and jumped at the creature. Slashing at the spider, she sliced open a large portion of its abdomen. When it turned on her, she screeched and thrust her sword through it's head. After she was convinced it was no longer moving, she pulled her sword out, letting the spider fall onto its back like its sibling. Now only one child and the parent spider remained.

Mello was clenching his wrist, still in pain as the tarantula's acid burned through his hand. Looking around desperately, Matt spotted what appeared to be a bathroom. "Mel, follow me!"

The two dashed to the bathroom, where Matt stopped at the nearest sink and turned the knob. Nothing. He tried a second one. Much to his relief, cold water flowed from the faucet. He grabbed Mello's arm and pulled his friend's hand under the water, washing off the acid. The spider's digestive fluids had already eaten at much of the skin, the bones of a few of Mello's knuckles showing clearly. It made Matt sick to look at.

"Stay here, I'm going to get Near. We'll take care of the spiders." Without waiting for a response, Matt ran back out of the bathroom. "Near! Mello needs you right away!"

The youngest boy nodded and ran passed Matt and into the bathroom while Matt joined Alone and Scarlet. Mello's gun was still on the ground where he had dropped it, and Matt grabbed it, wanting to finish this fight as fast as possible. He shot at the spider blocking the door several times, until it curled up on its back. The remaining mother spider was now not only hungry, but angry. Matt and Alone both fired their weapons at her. In response, she screeched and started scurrying towards them. Trying to take advantage of the situation, Scarlet took a swipe at the monster with her sword. The monstrous tarantula turned around faster than her children had, and Scarlet found herself staring into the beady eyes of the creature. She raised her sword to strike again, but the spider was prepared. Without a moment's warning, she folded her body so that her backside was facing Scarlet, and shot out a thick silk, binding Scarlet's arms to her sides. The spider then did the same to Scarlet's legs, causing her to fall to the ground, helpless before the predator. She struggled to break free, but the sticky thread was too strong. She began to panic as she found herself unable to move and at the mercy of a giant tarantula. Just as the spider loomed its ugly head close, an arrow struck one of its eyes. The spider stumbled back, taking its attention off of Scarlet and back onto Alone and Matt. It wasn't until Matt tried to shoot again that he realized the gun was out of ammo. He tossed it to the side, grabbing his daggers once again.

"Alone, can you distract it long enough for me to get close?"

The archer nodded and Matt took off in a different direction. "Oh no you don't." Alone mumbled as the mother tarantula attempted to follow him. With a couple more arrows embedded in her abdomen, the spider decided that Alone was the biggest nuisance and therefor had to be eliminated first. As she turned to make her way to the older female, Matt pulled a repeat of what he had done to one of the spider's children. Once she felt somebody was on her back, the spider tried to shake her attacker off. Matt jabbed his daggers into the spider in order to stay on, slowly dragging himself up towards her head. With each stab, the spider threw herself around more furiously, once almost stepping on Scarlet, and once almost slamming herself into Alone. When Matt reached the tarantula's head, he tore at her face. As he raised his daggers to strike again, he was knocked off and sent crashing to the ground. The spider, however, was too damaged to properly chase after her pray. She swayed as she tried to chase after Matt, eventually losing her balance and falling over. Slowly, she curled up, and became victim to the same fate as her three children.

"Is that all of them?" Alone asked, looking around to make sure that no other oversized arachnids would attack.

"That's all of them." Matt answered. Scarlet was screaming to be released by this point, practically having a breakdown. "Stop squirming or I might cut you on accident." Matt told Scarlet as he kneeled beside her. Careful that he didn't cut anything other than the threads, he managed to cut Scarlet out of the sticky tangled mess. "Are you alright?"

Scarlet nodded. "Now that I'm out of there."

"Good. C'mon, we need to check on Mello."

The two girls followed Matt to the bathroom, where Near was in the process of healing Mello's hand. While it was looking better, it still had a ways to go before being fully healed. Most of the flesh had been healed, but the skin had yet to stitch itself back together, and the healing was taking it's toll on Near.

Scarlet's mouth dropped open when she saw Mello's hand. "What happened?"

"That damn spider spit its acid all over my hand!" The blonde snapped, glaring at Scarlet.

She frowned. "Is it going to be okay?"

"Who knows? Maybe if you had just run to begin with so we wouldn't have had to all run to your rescue. Instead you just stood there like an idiot while the thing got closer!"

Scarlet opened her mouth to protest, but dropped her head. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to..."

"Don't worry, it's not your fault." Alone said, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. "It was a nasty, gigantic tarantula, and I know you hate spiders." She glanced over at Mello as she continued, "It's understandable you got scared. Besides, that's what we are here for, to help each other."

"But he's right, I should have run."

Alone shrugged. "Even if you had, I'm sure it would have followed. Either way we would have had to fight it off."

"I think we should take a rest for now." Matt suggested. "Near's going to need a break after Mello is healed, and I think we all need to just cool off a bit. We've been going non-stop since we started. If we don't rest, we'll make mistakes."

Near nodded. "I agree, we should take a short rest. I don't believe this is the best place to do so, however. Is there a more comfortable room around?"

Alone nodded. "Across the hall there is a room that is well-kept compared to the rest of this place."

"Then let's head over there. Near can work on Mello more where it's comfortable."

The four followed Alone to the room she had mentioned, luckily not running into any more zombies or oversized tarantulas. The room looked similar to the first room they had found, with the absence of the zombie cat. The room, as Alone had mentioned, looked to have been recently taken care of. The furniture had been dusted, the rug vacuumed and the windows washed. Mello sat down on one of the couches, reluctantly letting Near sit beside him to continue healing his hand. Matt, Scarlet and Alone took a seat on the opposing sofa.

"Oh yeah, I found something while I was here." Alone said, standing up and looking around. "I didn't get to finish looking at it, but it looked like it was written by somebody else who lives here. Ah, here it is!" She picked up the journal and sat back down on the couch between Scarlet and Matt.

"Are you sure it's by somebody different and not the same person?" Matt asked.

Alone nodded. "Yep. It's got different handwriting. The other one was more clean and fancy, this one is more small and messy. Besides, this one seems to be talking about whoever wrote the other journal. Listen:

"October 28,

I had to go and get the test subject for Prunella. I don't mind helping her, but sometimes I feel like I'm just her slave. She says that she cares, but lately all that has been on her mind are her experiments. She locks herself in her lab all day long and sends me out to get what she needs. But, I can't say no to her. Hopefully she'll make her breakthrough soon so she can stop dedicating her every waking hour to it.

"October 29,

Both subjects I brought to Prunella failed. At first, I was glad, hoping that she would quit, but I hated seeing the disappointment in her eyes. She wasn't upset for long, however, and vowed to continue. I decided that I will help her no matter what, even if I'm running all her chores. This means a lot to her, and I want her to be happy.

"October 30,

Scary things have begun to happen to the mice that received Prunella's solution. When I laid eyes upon the rotting but still living mice, I begged her not to continue. I know how much she wants to succeed, but something about this is very wrong. I fear that something may happen if she continues. She simply told me not to worry, however, that she had it all under control. I pray nothing bad is going to come of this...

"Well, that's that." Alone said, closing the journal.

"That must have been Doyle's journal." Scarlet pointed out.

Near nodded. "That's how it sounds. Mello, how is your hand feeling now?"

When Near finally withdrew his staff, Mello flexed his hand. It was still scarred, but for the most part, it was healed. "Seems fine." He hesitated a moment, seeming unsure of if he wanted to say anything more or not. "Thanks." He mumbled the word with an expression that looked like it was almost painful to say, then quickly brought the attention back to the journal. "You think that this Prunella woman is the one who started the infestation? Prunella...who the hell picked the names for this game?"

"It sounds like they are together. Or, at least, Doyle liked Prunella." Scarlet mentioned.

Matt laughed. "Sounds to me like Prunella's got him whipped."

"That's besides the point." Alone said, putting the journal back on the table where she had gotten it from. "We should try to find the lab. Any idea where it might be?"

"Prunella's room?" Matt suggested. "Either the entrance would be hidden somewhere there, or a clue on where to find it, seeing as it was her lab."

"There was a bedroom on the third floor that looked like it belonged to a girl. It's probably hers. I didn't get time to look through it though." Mello threw a glance at Scarlet as he finished talking.

Matt stood up from his spot on the sofa. "Well then, let's get going."

Following Mello's lead, the group ascended to the third floor of the mansion. The blonde led them to a room on the right. Before even entering, it was obvious that the room belonged to an important person. The door was adorned with intricately carved designs with a matching golden door handle. Inside was one of the largest bedrooms the group had ever seen. A large bookcase completely covered one of the walls, books packed in so tightly not another one would possibly fit. The place was incredibly tidy, with everything dusted off and polished to a shine, the queen-sized bed nicely made with barely a wrinkle in the blankets. Nothing appeared to be out of place, and nothing stood out. It did not look like the type of place that would be hiding anything. Nevertheless, the group began to search around the room for any type of clue they could find.

Mello began looking through a desk, Near got down on his knees to peek under the bed, Scarlet rummaged through the drawers of a dresser, Alone examined the bookshelf, and Matt searched through a large walk-in closet. After going through a drawer full of various tops, Scarlet came across white lab coats hidden at the bottom of the drawer. She held one up to show everyone.

"Well, we know that this room must be Prunella's. She's got lab coats hiding underneath the rest of her tops."

Near got up from the floor. "There is nothing under the bed."

"I think I found something." Alone said, not taking her eyes off the bookshelf. Matt walked over to see what she was talking about, but nothing looked out of the ordinary.

"What?"

Alone pointed to a group of books in the center of the middle shelf. "These books are out of order."

Matt raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? Your point?"

Alone sighed. "Don't you think that's a bit odd? Everything else in here is organized, nothing is out of place. Even the rest of these books are in order with the exception of these 5. She has them going 3, 5, 1, 4, 2. Somebody like her wouldn't just leave the volumes out of order like that." Pulling out the the first book of the series, Alone placed it before three, slid two in between, then switched books five and four so that the books were now in numerical order. There was a clicking noise and the bookcase suddenly sunk slowly into the ground. Alone grinned.

"Told ya."

"Not everyone keeps their room as messy as you do, Matt." Mello chuckled.

"Well, that wasn't very difficult." Near said, peering down the staircase the bookshelf had revealed. "I do wish the creator was a bit more...creative with these puzzles though. Most of them have been easier than I thought they would be. It is a tad disappointing. Though, I suppose the maze was pretty well thought out."

"Let's just get going." Matt said as he started descending the stairs. The other four followed behind, heading toward what they hoped would be Prunella's lab.


	9. World 2 4

_Author's Note: Sorry it took so long for an update, but I've been a bit busy with college, and I have to devote a good amount of time to my German class. But don't worry, I haven't abandoned this fic. I have every intention of finishing it, with much thanks to the support I have gotten so far from my readers, it just might take a little longer than expected, so, please, bear with me! Anyway, here is a nice, long chapter to make up for it! Enjoy!_

The steady dripping of water and echo of their footsteps were all that could be heard as the group descended to a basement level of the mansion. The stairs seemed never-ending, and it was getting darker the further down they went.

"Should we turn back?" Scarlet asked. "It doesn't look like there is any light and who knows how long these stairs go on."

"Which is exactly why we keep going." Matt said.

Scarlet sighed. "Then we must have missed a light switch or something, cause this is ridiculous."

"Do you want to walk back up and try to find it then?" Alone asked, already knowing the answer.

"No."

"Okay then."

The group could now only make out the silhouettes of each other as it got darker still. Without warning, one of them suddenly disappeared. A moment later, Mello's voice ran out from what sounded like the bottom of the staircase.

"Guys? Where did everyone go?! I can't see anything! Hellooooo!"

"We're still where we've been!" Matt yelled back. "You are the one who moved! What did you do?"

"I don't kno-" Mello suddenly stopped midsentence. "Hey, I think I found something!" The lights suddenly turned on as the clicking of a light switch echoed faintly.

"Hey, nice one Mel!" Matt said, giving a thumbs up to his friend, who, as they could now see, had somehow made his way to the bottom of the stairs.

With their way lit, the group continued their descent. Since now they could actually see, they were able to go much faster without fear of tripping or accidentally knocking somebody over.

Alone looked back up the staircase, trying to figure out how Mello got down so suddenly. "How did you get down here?"

Mello shrugged. "One second I'm with you guys, the next I'm in pitch black and then my hand lands on the light switch."

"Glitch?" Matt suggested. "Games do that sometimes. At least it was a glitch that worked to our advantage and didn't screw us over."

Scarlet glanced around the basement. Water dripped from the ceiling. It looked like some sort of underground tunnel, with the walls, floor, and ceiling all carved out of uneven stone. "We're pretty far down."

"I am guessing that the lab - and our answers - are somewhere down here." Near stated, not hesitating to continue forward.

Matt nodded in agreement. "Let's go. It should be somewhe- holy crap!" he jumped back as some liquid spilled from the ceiling. Another oversized tarantula was on the ceiling, spitting acid down on them.

"Not again!" Scarlet moaned.

Mello aimed his gun, but found it was empty. He felt around his pockets but discovered he was out of ammo. "Dammit."

With their gunner out of bullets, Alone aimed her bow. She still had a few arrows, though soon she, too, would be out of ammunition. While she shot a couple of arrows, Scarlet lifted her sword as if it was a javelin, then threw it as hard as she could at the spider. Since it had been facing them, Scarlet managed to catch the creature right in its face with a lethal blow. It dropped to the ground with a screech, twitching before it finally died.

Scarlet pulled her blade from the Arachnid's face, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the dark blood that dripped onto the floor. She tried to shake her sword clean, not wanting to wipe it on her clothes.

"Ugh! Want to watch what you are doing?!" Mello said, wiping blood spatter off of his face.

"Oops. Sorry." Scarlet said, holding back a chuckle.

Matt took a good look around at the walls and ceiling before they went any further to avoid any accidents. The way appeared to be clear. He kept an eye out as they turned a corner, but, luckily, nothing was there either. The hall was quite long, however, with a few wooden doors scattered about. One door stood out from the rest, being made of metal rather than the rotting wood of the others. Figuring it must be important to be made out of a much more sturdy material, the group didn't second guess going in.

Beyond the door was the very opposite of what was expected. In fact, there was nothing in the room at all. It was rather small and didn't even have a chair.

Alone raised an eyebrow. "Okay...so what is the point of this?"

"I don't think there is one." Scarlet responded. "Unless there is something hidden?"

Near examined the walls, which were unusually smooth compared to that of the hall's. "This room has a purpose, though what that purpose is I am not sure. Just look at the walls and floor, they are all flat and smooth."

Mello, who had been standing in the doorway, took a step forward to see what Near was talking about. The echo of the door slamming shut as he released it was followed by a loud clicking. The blonde turned back around and attempted to reopen the door, but found it locked. "What the...it won't open!"

Matt realized too late what was going on. "It's a trap!"

Scarlet suddenly screamed. Alone turned around to where her friend had been standing, only to realize she was no longer standing there. The floor had begun to open from the middle, right where Scarlet had been standing, and she had fallen through, her hands desperately grasping the edge of the floor.

"Scarlet!" Alone got on her knees and grabbed her friend's wrists. While trying to pull her up, however, the gap widened, causing Alone to lose her balance. She was about to fall as well when Mello and Matt grabbed her arms and helped to pull her and Scarlet back. As soon as they were both on solid ground, they scrambled to their feet and backed into the wall.

Mello spared a glance down the pit. About 30 feet down, large spikes protruded from the ground, a couple rotting corpses already impaled on them. "Oh, hell no!" The blond backed up and looked to Matt. "You are the game expert here, do something!"

Using one of his daggers, Matt attempted to pry the lock open, but it was clear that tactic was not going to work. "Dammit. There's gotta be a switch somewhere! There is never a room that you can't get out of."

"There!" Scarlet said, pointing up at the ceiling. Everyone looked up. It was hard to see, but, sure enough, a small, gray switch sat in the center of the ceiling. It was only distinguishable by the fact it stuck out slightly from the rest of the ceiling, meaning it had to be pushed in to hopefully unlock the door. "Alone, can you hit it?"

The archer nodded and aimed her bow. She fired an arrow, but the first shot missed. The gap in the floor was getting wider, forcing the group against the wall. Alone aimed once again, and let the arrow loose. The button clicked as the arrow made contact, and the floor stopped separating. Slowly, the two sides came back together. Another click was heard as the door unlocked, and the five exited the room as fast as possible without pushing each other.

"The woman in charge of this place certainly knows what she is doing." Near said as he watched the metal door close, resetting the trap inside the room. "She purposely made that door different from the others so that trespassers would think it was something important and wander in. It's quite an efficient way to eliminate unwanted visitors."

Alone frowned. "I don't even want to see what is in the rest of the rooms."

"But think about it." Matt started, refusing to turn back, "For her to have such a deadly trap, it must mean we are almost there. We just have to really watch our step from now on, and we won't all walk into a room until we know it's safe. That way if something happens, somebody can pull us out. Besides, the place we are looking for is most likely at the end of this hall. Let's just ignore all these other doors and see what's all the way at the end."

Scarlet nodded. "Okay, sounds good." She usually liked examining everything when she played a game, and went into every room so she wouldn't miss something, but at this point, she just wanted to find the end of the level. "If we find out we are missing something we need, we'll have to go back to find it."

Carefully, the group continued down the corridor. They passed a few doors, but didn't bother even opening them to see what was inside. The end of the corridor was another turn, which led to a much shorter corridor. At the end stood a double-door similar to the one that had led them to the trap room, only much bigger, and it appeared to be automatic as opposed to one that had to be manually opened. When the approached it, however, the door did not budge.

"So, just how do we get this thing open?" Mello asked, not seeing any handles.

"This." Near said, looking at a small device on the wall beside the door. It was a keypad, with the numbers 0-9 and an enter button. Above the numbers, a red light was on. Posted on the wall beside it was a torn piece of notebook paper. The group gathered around to get a good look at it.

1

1 1

1 2 1

1 3 3 1

1 4 6 4 1

1 5 10 10 5 1

1 6 15 20 15 6 1

_Always the odd one out_

Mello stared at the pyramid of numbers for a moment. "Figures. It can't be simple. What are we supposed to do with that?"

"It is rather simple, actually." Near said, not taking his eyes from the problem before them. "That is part of Pascal's Triangle. The note at the bottom must relate to the triangle somehow."

Scarlet glanced over at the keypad and then back at the piece of paper. "Whatever the answer to that is will be the code we need to get into the next room."

"But what does 'always the odd one out' mean? Is it referring to the odd numbers?" Alone asked.

"That is quite possible. In fact, I believe that is exactly what it means." Near said.

Mello crossed his arms. "Then the code would be 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 1-"

"No, that's not it." Near interrupted.

"What do you mean that's not it? You said the odd numbers!"

"But that would make the code ridiculously long. It's not just the odd numbers, but the odd numbers in the odd numbered rows. The numbers we would take from row one would be 1 and 1, then we go to row three-"

"Wait, wait wait!" Mello said, holding up his hands for Near to be quiet. "The first row only has 1 one!"

Near shook his head. "No. The first row is 1, 1

"Can you count? That is the second row down!"

"Mello, do you know Pascal's triangle? You are counting the first row as row one. The first row is considered row zero, and it isn't valid in our solution because the number zero is considered an even number." Having been defeated at everything he said, Mello gave up, grumbling to himself. Near continued, "However, I also believe there is another meaning to the note. I believe we are supposed to leave all the ones out. Even taking only the odd numbers from the odd rows, it still leaves us with a lot of numbers, and a lot of ones."

Matt positioned himself in front of the keypad. "Alright, Near, read me the numbers and I'll punch them in."

Near nodded. "Three, three, five, five."

A beeping was heard as Matt finished punching in the code.

"That's it? Three three five five was the code?" Alone said, staring at the keypad as the light had turned green. "Shouldn't it be harder than that?"

Scarlet shrugged. "Usually they are harder. Maybe she was using reverse psychology? You know, by the look of the puzzle and everything, anyone would expect it to be a lot harder, and thus go crazy trying to figure out the code. Nobody would guess such a simple code."

"Well, the way is open now, so let's go." Matt said, leading the group forward. The double automatic doors slid open as Matt stood in front of them. As they opened, a gust of wind seemed to blow the stench of rotting flesh in their faces. After getting over the horrid smell, the group could focus on the room. It was exactly what they had been looking for.

The lab was rather large. The lights were on, and it certainly didn't look abandoned. Test tubes and beakers were all over the place, most of them shattered, some sitting in puddles of unknown substances on the floor and tables. Large capsules filled with liquid lined one side of the room, some of which contained what looked like human bodies.

"Oh my god..." Scarlet quickly looked away from the table she was standing by. On it was a human corpse. It had been cut open and much of the insides had been decayed and liquified. The smell was overpowering. "I think I'm gonna be sick..." She stumbled to the other side of the room, refusing to look back at it. As she stopped beside a table, something suddenly grabbed her leg. She screamed so loud, Mello thought she would shatter his eardrums.

A zombie head poked out from under the table and attempted to bite Scarlet's ankle. Before it got the chance, she slammed her free foot down on its skull, smashing it's face into the floor. She didn't stop there, continuing to stomp on the zombie.

"Die! Die! Die!" Scarlet yelled with each stomp of her foot. After getting its head crushed the first three times, the zombie loosened its grip on Scarlet's ankle, its hand falling lifeless beside her foot. It wasn't until Scarlet had managed to detach the zombie's head from the rest of its body that she decided it was dead enough to stop.

"Ew..." She took a couple of steps back and rubbed her shoe on the ground, trying to wipe off the zombie stuck to the sole.

Alone shook her head. "Did you kick it enough times?"

"Yes."

"Overkill much?" Matt said, eyebrow raised at the mutilated zombie head.

"That's what it gets for scaring me half to death! I think my life span just decreased by five years." Scarlet frowned. Matt chuckled.

"I think I may have found our answer." Near said. He was holding up a syringe filled with a deep red liquid.

Alone looked at it with interest. "Is it blood?"

The white mage shook his head. "No. It doesn't have the same consistency, it's a little bit thicker."

"Then it must be..."

Near nodded. "The experiment that woman was working on."

The rest of the group gathered around, all examining the syringe. "What do you think would happen if you injected it in something? Can we test it out?" Alone asked, looking around for something to inject the concoction into.

Mello looked up from the needle to Alone. "Are you crazy?"

"Well, it would answer questions for us, right? If it makes a zombie, we just kill it."

"Why do you sound so excited about it?"

"Alone is a wannabe mad scientist." Scarlet cut in.

Mello couldn't tell if she was joking or serious. Whatever he was about to say, however, was drown out by a sudden gunshot. The group fell dead silent, looking at the newly created hole in the table where Near had picked the syringe up from.

"Put...it...down..." A voice commanded, each word pronounced with deliberate slowness and emphasis, promising sever consequences should it not be obeyed.

Near did as he was told, putting down the syringe and stepping back from it. "Are you the one responsible for this? Prunella?"

A woman stepped out from the shadows. She looked to be no older than twenty-five. The labcoat wrapped around her slender form was, at one time, white, but was now stained red with blood. Her brown hair reached her shoulders; her blue eyes looked out from behind the lenses of her wire rimmed glasses. The magnum revolver in her hands aimed shakily at the group. "What are you doing in here?"

"It's more like what are _you_ doing in here?" Matt said, taking a step forward. He stopped dead in his tracks as Prunella fired.

A thud sounded from behind them as a zombie fell to the ground, moaning in pain. A second shot from the woman's gun silenced it. As soon as she was sure the zombie wasn't getting back up, she returned her aim to the five intruders. "You don't belong here."

"Actually, we do. See, where are playing this game and- wait, never mind." Matt waved away that thought and started again. "We discovered that the source of the zombie outbreak was here and came to investigate. We are led to believe that you caused all of this."

There was silence for a moment, then the woman began laughing. "What do you think you are, the police?" She laughed again, sounding like she was on the verge of hysteria.

"Listen, lady." Mello said, taking a couple steps forward. "We know it was you, and we really need to get going."

"You don't know anything!" She shrieked. "You have no clue. You don't know what I've went through!"

"What you've went through?" Alone repeated, starting to get angry. "You have dug corpses from their graves to use in your experiments, you've ruined an entire town! You don't know what _we've_ been through!"

"Silence! You know nothing! You couldn't even imagine what I've suffered. My experiment...I poured everything into it! I was close, so very close. The cure for death, it would have been the greatest achievement ever known to man!"

"Cure...for death?" Scarlet whispered, almost not believing what the woman was spurting out.

"That's right. To revive those we've lost, to bring back our loved ones. The ones who were taken away from us far sooner than it ever should have been."

Matt raised an eyebrow. "Necromancy?"

"Necromancy? Hah! That would require rituals, religious beliefs. No, it was a cure. A medicine of science. It was simple: create the medicine, then inject it in freshly dead mice. And do you know what? It worked. They came back to life. For a short time, everything was good. I then injected it in two recently deceased humans, but they did not get back up.

"The next morning, I noticed something strange in the mice. They seemed to be rotting, yet they were still alive. Before I knew what was happening, all hell broke loose. One of the human corpses went missing, and neither Doyle nor I moved it. Nobody else has been to or lives in this mansion. Then, we the second corpse rose. I thought that perhaps they had actually both returned to life, that the first subject may have escaped, being scared and confused. I soon realized that was not the case, as the newly arisen subject tried to attack me. It wasn't the same person I know. It wasn't Seth. It was a monster. I had no choice...I had to shoot then burn the body..." Prunella slowly lowered her gun, lost in her own story.

"That wasn't what I had intended...that wasn't what I had predicted! Seth...my love...I've failed...I..." With a shaking hand, she raised the gun slowly to her own head.

Knowing what Prunella was going to do, Scarlet rushed forward, followed by Alone and Matt. Scarlet grappled with Prunella for the gun and Alone and Matt tried to restrain the scientist. A shot fired.

Mello and Near rushed forward, afraid somebody was hurt. Alone and Matt were holding Prunella's hands behind her back. Scarlet had managed to grab the gun from Prunella just as she was pulling the trigger, the bullet only piercing a wall.

"Let me go!" Prunella shrieked, struggling.

"You don't deserve to die." Scarlet said, handing the gun to Mello.

"What do you mean? I-"

"You deserve to live with what you've done and the atrocities you've committed."

Prunella stopped struggling, though Alone and Matt did not release their grips on the woman's arms.

"You should have known nothing good would come of your experiment." Alone said. "The dead can't be brought back. All you did was reanimate mindless, soulless corpses which knew nothing more than to terrorize the living."

There was silence as Prunella simply dropped her head in shame, unsure of what to do now that she had been forbidden from taking her own life. Mello broke the silence.

"So, if we aren't going to kill her, how, exactly, are we going to move on to the next level?"

Matt thought for a moment. "That's...a good question. I'm not sure if the object of the game is to let her kill herself, kill her ourselves, or force her to live and find another way out."

"Alternate pathways?" Scarlet suggested. "There isn't always a definitive path. Lots of games change based on the player's actions."

"We could try that conspicuous door." Near said, pointing to a large metal door with a red tint that stood out from the rest of the area.

"Was...that there before?" Alone asked.

Scarlet looked at the door in question for a moment. "I don't believe so."

"Look, there is a key were Prunella was standing before." Matt took a couple of steps then bent down to pick up the key. "It looks like it goes to that door. This must be it."

"Then let's go." Mello said, grabbing some ammunition that had been on one of the tables for his new magnum.

As Matt unlocked the door, Scarlet and Alone left Prunella to join him, Mello and Near.

"Thank you..." Prunella suddenly said as Matt placed his hand on the doorknob. "You are right...I must live with my sins. I can never make up for what I did, but at the very least, I must be punished. I'll work on rebuilding this town and eliminating all of the zombies I have created."

"Good luck with that." Mello said. "Thanks for the gun by the way. It's a pretty sweet weapon."

Matt turned the knob and opened the door. It led to complete darkness. "Not sure where this goes...but we're about to find out."

Just before stepping through, the group could have sworn they saw a rather familiar looking zombie, with a long, white beard and small glasses resting on the tip of its long nose, garbed in dark robes.


	10. World 3 1

The sudden rush of heat indicated a drastic change in surroundings. Whereas the previous area had been chilly, it now felt like the middle of summer. It didn't take long to discover the source of heat was the bubbling lava pit spread out before the area the group had spawned from. The lava pit formed a deadly moat around a large castle structure, leaving no way to access it as long as the stone drawbridge was up.

"Well, isn't this just lovely." Mello said, rolling his eyes. "Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire."

"We still aren't done?" Alone whined.

"Don't worry, Alone, this is probably the last level." Scarlet said.

Alone raised an eyebrow. "How do you know? We're only on the third level not counting the maze, aren't games longer than that?"

"Well, yes, but look at where we are. A castle is typically the last level. Take Mario and Zelda, for example. Fire Emblem games usually end in some kind of large fortress, and Yggdrasill's lair in Tales of Symphonia was kind of like a giant mansion."

"I hope you're right."

"Before we even worry about if this is the final level or not, we have a more important issue." Near interrupted. "How are we to cross with the bridge up?"

Matt looked around. "There should be a lever or switch somewhere that will let us by. Help me look for it."

"So, you wish to reach the castle?"

The group whirled around to face the source of the unfamiliar voice. Standing before them was a great knight, covered from head to toe in crimson armor.

"And who are you?" Mello asked, glaring at the Knight.

"Me? Thou need only refer to me as the Crimson Knight."

"Gee, how original." The blond said, rolling his eyes.

"Silence, cur! If thy wish is to pass to yonder castle, thou must fight!"

Alone stared. "You have _got_ to be kidding me. Look at you, and look at us!"

The Crimson Knight raised his hand, silencing Alone. "I will duel with each of you. If each person passes, you may continue. If not..."

"If not, then what?" Scarlet asked.

"If not...thou dost not wish to know."

"Yes, I do."

"No, thou doesn't."

"Yes, I do!"

"No, thou doesn't!"

"Yes I-"

"Silence! For thine crude behavior, thou will goest first!" The knight drew a large, wide sword from its scabbard. "Come, we fight!"

"What? I can't-"

"Begin!" The Crimson Knight yelled, raising his sword in the air.

Scarlet yelped as the knight's sword clashed with her own. She was kept on the defensive, blocking and dodging as the knight slashed at her.

"Th-this isn't fair!" Scarlet cried, barely avoiding the blade. "You are trained in combat, I'm not!"

"Where be thine courage? Fight like a man, you craven cur!"

"But I'm not a man!"

The battle continued on the same way, Scarlet not able to even attempt a hit on the Crimson Knight. She soon found herself backed against a tree.

"Hah hah! Now thou cannot run!" The Knight proclaimed, drawing his sword back.

Scarlet screeched as her opponent thrust his sword forward, right at her chest. She quickly ducked, the blade missing her head by mere inches, and embedding itself into the trunk of the tree. While the knight tried to yank his sword out of the bark, Scarlet got behind him and held her sword to his neck, slipping the tip slightly under a space in his armor.

"I win." She said with a grin.

The knight finally withdrew his sword from the tree and sheathed it. "I commend thee on thy victory. Though thou dost not have much strength, thou hast skill. Now." He turned to Mello and Alone. "Let us have an accuracy contest!"

Mello raised an eyebrow and Alone sighed.

"Hey, how come I have to have a fight to the death and they just have an accuracy contest! That's not fair. How dare you make me go through that!" Scarlet complained, but the knight simply ignored her.

"Ready your weapons." The knight announced, drawing a bow from behind him, seemingly out of nowhere.

Mello did not draw his gun. "I don't want to waste ammo on a stupid accuracy contest!"

"Then make one really good shot." Alone said, readying her bow. Mello grumbled.

"We aim for the crows in yonder trees. Hit one of the heads, and thou shalt pass."

The knight released an arrow, hitting one of the birds effortlessly. Alone carefully aimed her bow. Just as she went to shoot, one of the crows flew away.

"Stupid thing..." Alone muttered, aiming for the next closest bird. When she thought she had aimed well, she let her arrow fly. Her target fell lifelessly to the ground.

Finally, Mello aimed his gun, sighing as he got ready to waste a bullet on what he deemed an unnecessary task. As he shot, one of the birds fell, the rest scattering from the sound of the gun.

"Good, now, let us see the results."

Alone and Mello followed the Knight toward the tree where the birds had fallen. The first bird, the one the knight himself had shot, had an arrow through it's head right in between it's black eyes. Alone's had pierced the neck.

"Thou did not hit the correct spot!" The knight said, pointing to the bird.

"Yes, actually, I did. Look." Alone leaned down, motioning with her finger as she talked. "The arrow originally entered through the neck, but it's also at an upwards angle, and it protrudes through the skull. Thus, I have pierced it through its head."

The knight was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Fine, thou hast passed." He then turned to Mello's bird, which had no head at all. Everything from it's neck up had been blown clear off from the magnum. "Thou hast passed as well." Mello rolled his eyes.

The knight then turned to Near. "User of holy magic, show me thy powers! Create the most powerful shield thy can conjure."

Near frowned. "I fear that I'm rather low on - what did Matt call it - MP? I recently healed a sever wound that drained most of my energy and I have yet to fully recover."

"Where is the wound thou speaks of?"

Near pointed to Mello with his staff. The knight grabbed Mello's hand and inspected it. "Ah, these are indeed the battle scars of a dangerous wound! I will allow thee to conserve thine energy, honorable mage, and take these scars as proof of thine abilities."

With everyone else having passed their tests, the Crimson Knight turned his attention to Matt. "Thou seems to be the leader of this group. Answer me this: why is it thou wishes to enter yonder castle, putting thyself and thy friends in danger?"

"Well..." Matt began, carefully choosing his words. "We all have a common goal we must reach, and the only way we will be able to do so is through working together. I guess you could say I'm the leader, but they just ask me for advice, I'm not a dictator or anything. We work together, helping one another out of danger so we can attain our goal together, and we'll stop at nothing to get it."

The night seemed to make a sniffling sound from underneath his helmet. "As spoken by a true leader! Thou hast my approval! I will grant thee entrance to the castle!" As if the castle gate heard him, it lowered to the ground, forming the bridge the group needed.

Mello rolled his eyes. "Why thank you, O Great Crimson Knight. I can now go on with the comfort of knowing that you approve of us."

"Don't mention it."

Everyone turned to the knight at his sudden complete change of tone.

"Er...ahem..." The knight cleared his throat and resumed his former tone. "It is my pleasure. I wish thee the greatest of luck on thy journey!"

"Right..." Mello mumbled and hurried ahead, the rest following.

"That was...weird..." Alone said, glancing back as the Knight whistled.

A large horse trotted out from somewhere in the surrounding woods and stopped next to its master. The knight attempted to climb up, only to slip and fall on the ground with a loud clatter. He swiftly stumbled back on to his feet, looked around as if to make sure nobody saw what happened, and climbed onto his horse. With a whinny, the horse rode off, the knight waving his sword in the air as he vanished behind the trees.

"Okay then..."

The interior of the castle was nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, it looked all very straightforward. A few doors lined the walls to either side, though it was obvious that they were not accessible. Due to bad graphics, they looked like they were simply painted onto the walls, and the doorknobs didn't even stick out. The only door that looked like it could be opened was straight ahead. It was a large, light gray door adorned with touches of gold trimming. As the group stepped forward, the bridge behind them raised back up, trapping them in the castle.

"Guess it's only one way from here." Scarlet said, watching the bridge raise. "Well, this must be it. Let's go!"

The next room was rather empty. A large, red switch sat on the floor nearby where the group stood. Splitting the room in half were large spikes protruding from the ground, taller than anybody in the party. As everyone got in, the door behind them glowed with a faint aura, sealing them in. At this point, nobody was even phased by it, and ignored it.

"Hey, what's this do?" Alone asked and stepped on the switch. The spikes in the center of the room fell, granting access to the other side. "Cool!" She stepped off of the switch, ready to go forward, but as soon as her weight was off the switch, the spikes shot back up. Alone frowned. "That's not fair."

"We'll have to find something to keep it weighted down with." Matt said.

Scarlet looked around. "But...there is nothing here. You don't think...you don't think we have to leave somebody behind?!"

Matt frowned. "It kind of looks that way."

Scarlet shook her head. "No. No, no, no. There has got to be another way. We can't just leave somebody here while the rest of us go ahead."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Anybody have anything heavy on them?"

Near shook his head. "The only things that have any weight to them on our person are our weapons, and we certainly can't leave those behind. Besides, it would take more weight than all of our weapons combined to hold down the switch."

"It's alright, you guys can go on ahead, I'll stay behind." Alone offered. "Besides, you guys know more about these games than I do. You can finish it."

"But we can't just leave you here!" Scarlet protested.

"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine. Just make sure you come back for me when you are done. Maybe by then you'll find something to hold the button down with. There isn't even anything in this room, what could happen?"

"She has a point." Mello said.

"But-but..." Scarlet finally sighed. "Okay, but the moment I find something that will hold that button down, I'm coming back!"

"I'll be here." Alone said, taking a seat on the switch and lowering the spikes for the other 4 to continue on.

As they opened the door and headed to the next room, the door slammed shut behind them. Scarlet tried opening it, but it was locked shut. "No! Open up, you stupid door!" She yelled, kicking it.

From the other side of the door, they could hear a deep growling, followed by Alone's scream. Scarlet pounded the door harder. "Alone! Freaking...door...OPEN!"

"I believe we have a bit of a problem." Near said.

Everyone turned around to find themselves facing a group of living armor. Red and yellow colored eyes glowed from the darkness inside the suits, each suit wielding either a sword, ax, or lance. The possessed suits of armor started walking slowly forward, the heavy clanking of their footsteps echoing off the walls.

Scarlet unsheathed her sword. "You picked a really bad time to pick a fight with me."

Mello fired a shot, but the bullet simply ricocheted off the armor. "Great. How the hell do we fight suits of armor?"

"There has to be a weak spot somewhere. Don't shoot until you find it, they are slow so dodging should be fairly easy." Matt instructed. "Near, stay behind the rest of us."

The white mage nodded, keeping out of reach of the suits of armor.

Scarlet got into a sword fight with one of the suits. Though she was landing blows, the armor wasn't phased in the least.

Mello sidestepped an ax, his eyes scanning the armor. "I don't see a weak spot, Matt!"

"There has to be one! Nothing is invincible!"

"Perhaps this would be a better time to run." Near suggested, looking at the door behind the suits of armor.

"I think I have to agree with the little twerp." Mello said.

"Fine, make a break for the door!"

As the four ran to the door, ducking as blades sliced the air overhead, one rather large suit of armor stepped in their way, blocking the door.

"Oh, c'mon! This is ridiculous!" Mello yelled in frustration. "Get out of the way!"

The armor lifted up it's large sword, then quickly turned to Near and swung it's blade down. Near held his staff up, ready to defend himself, when Scarlet got in front of him, blocking the sword.

"I'll distract him, you guys run ahead!"

"Are you crazy? While you are distracted with him, the rest of them are going to come at you too!" Matt said.

"Crazy? Probably. Just go, I'll catch up. These guys are slow anyway. Once I take care of them, I'm going back for Alone."

"C'mon, Matt, let's go!" Mello said, grabbing his friend's arm and pulling him forward.

"Matt, just do me one favor." Scarlet said, blocking another blow. "Save some of the boss for me, kay?"

Matt, Mello and Near ran for the door before any more of the suits of armor noticed and blocked them again. Just as the door closed behind them, a javelin got stuck in the door, part of the tip poking through. That door, too, sealed up.

"Dammit!" Matt yelled, kicking the door. "I can't believe I just let them both stay behind."

"Given the situation, it was the most logical thing to do." Near said.

"But what kind of friend just leaves his teammates behind like that?"

"What kind of friend would hold the rest of his teammates back?" Mello asked. "Think about it from their point of view. Besides, you are the one that needs to make it to the end, you are better at this game stuff than we are."

"I guess...but still."

"Dammit Matt, if you are that upset over it, then hurry and beat the game so we can all get the hell out of here!"

Matt nodded. "Right. Okay, let's go! I'll get us all out of here."

With the group now down to three, they pressed forward, now determined more than ever to beat the game they were all trapped in.


	11. World 3 2

Having lost both of their female members, the group was now down to three. Matt, Mello and Near stood in a long, narrow corridor that sat on a slightly downward slant. They looked around, expecting to find enemies or a trap, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Torches stuck to the wall provided light. Mello found that the flames emitted no heat whatsoever.

"Think it'll burn me if I touch it?" He asked, examining one of the flames, which flickered in the same exact pattern even if he blew on it.

"I would think that fire would burn you." Near said.

Mello glared at Near. "Obviously in real life it would, but there isn't even any warmth around it." He poked his finger into the flame. Feeling nothing, he stuck his whole hand through it. "Look, Near, I'm touching the fire and it's not burning my hand!"

Near simply turned away and said nothing. He strongly disliked the lack of logic in this game world.

"That's great, Mel. You can do that in a lot of games. Let's just keep moving." Matt said, walking ahead.

"Tch." Mello dropped his hand back down to his side and followed the other two. A quarter of the way down the hall, he stopped. His foot seemed to slightly sink as he took a step. "Uh...do you guys hear that rumbling?"

Matt turned around. "What are you-holy crap!"

Mello quickly looked back. A large boulder was suddenly rolling down the corridor, quickly catching up to them. "Oh, hell no..."

Nobody needed to say anything. The three boys were already running full speed down the hall.

"Why is there a boulder chasing us?" Near asked as they ran, having no clue where it had come from.

"Er..." Mello hesitated for a moment. "Well, I think I might have stepped on a switch..."

"Nice job." Matt said sarcastically.

"How was I supposed to know one of the floor tiles was a switch that would release a giant boulder the size of the corridor?!"

They were quickly nearing the end of the hall, and the boulder wasn't slowing down. A door was up ahead, and, of course, it was closed. Unless it opened into the other room, they wouldn't have time to pull it open and run through before they were crushed by the large rock pursuing them.

"Should I try to stop it with a barrier?" Near asked as they got closer to the door.

"No, that would be suicide, and I doubt it would work. You don't have enough magical strength to stop that thing right now." Matt took a moment to glance back at the boulder. "Guys, run to either side of the hall and squish yourself down on the ground up against the wall as flat as you can!"

With no other option, and no time to argue or explain, Mello and Near did as Matt instructed. Near and Matt dove to one side as Mello dove to the other. They got on the floor and forced their backs against the wall, keeping their bodies as flat as possible. The boulder flew passed, scuffing Matt's boots but otherwise just barely missing him. The large rock shattered with reverberating cracks as it collided with the door at the end of the hall. The three boys slowly got to their feet, shaken, but unharmed.

"Matt, when we get back to the real world, I'm kicking your ass."

"You're the one who triggered the trap." Matt muttered.

Mello glared. "What did you say?"

"Nothing. Let's just keep going."

"How are we going to get passed the door? The boulder is-" Near stopped short as he looked to the door. "Gone?" He stared at the door, cocking his head to the side. He knew the rock had crashed into the door and that there wasn't anywhere for it to have gone, yet it wasn't there.

"It faded away after it shattered." Matt explained.

"It...faded...nevermind." Near shook his head. There was no logical explanation.

As Matt tried to open the door, he found it locked. He mentally praised himself for not having tried that when the boulder was chasing them; they would have all been crushed. "It's locked."

"Do you have a key?" Mello asked. Matt shook his head. "Then how are we supposed to get in?"

"Look up there." The two looked in the direction Near was pointing. Above the door was a small, square opening in the wall that appeared to go all the way through.

Mello raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? What's your point?"

Near sighed. "It probably leads into the other room. If you give me a boost, I can crawl through and unlock the door."

"Good idea, Near!" Matt said. Mello didn't appear to like the idea as much.

"Fine. Matt, get on my shoulders, then Near will climb up."

Matt put his hands on the blond's shoulders then put one foot in his friend's cupped hands. Mello boosted Matt up, who then climbed onto Mello's shoulders. "Alright Near, hurry up."

The youngest boy nodded and climbed his way up to the other two. After almost kicking Mello in the head, he had just about made it up to Matt's shoulders when he lost his balance. He grabbed Matt as he slipped, which, in turn, caused Mello to lose his balance, sending all three tumbling rather unceremoniously to the floor.

"What the hell, Near?!" Mello yelled, pushing Matt off of him.

"I'm sorry." Near said as he got to his feet. "I don't have the best balance, and I'm not a very good climber."

Mello growled. "We'll try one more time, then you guys can figure it out yourselves."

They tried again, this time Near being more careful. He slowly straightened himself out, making sure he wouldn't fall again. Finally, he was standing on Matt's shoulders. He grasped the ledge of the small opening and pulled himself in, Matt helping to push him up. Matt leapt down from his friend's shoulders when Near was safely on the ledge.

The group's healer sat where he was, looking down into the other room with a frown.

"What's the matter?" Matt asked.

"Its kind of far down..."

"Just jump!" Mello said.

Near inched his way to the edge, took a deep breath, and dropped down. Matt assumed he landed safely, for the door was soon unlocked. They expected Near to open it, but when the door remained shut, Matt grabbed the handle and opened the door. When the two older boys walked in the room, Near was nowhere to be found.

"Near? Hey Near, where are you?" Matt called out, only to receive no response. He looked all around, but could find no trace of the boy. He looked above to doorway to make sure the hole he sent Near through didn't lead to somewhere else, but, sure enough, a square-shaped hole was in the wall above the door. "Where...did he go?"

"Hey! Twerp! Stop playing games and get out here!" Mello yelled. The only response he received was the echo of his own voice.

Something on the ground caught Matt's eye. He leaned down to get a closer look. "Hey, Mel, check this out. It looks like drag marks, right?"

Mello bent down where Matt was, examining the marks made on the dirt-covered stone floor. "You think he was dragged away? But...to where?" He looked over the length of the trail. The drag marks led to a closed door on the wall to their right.

The two boys stumbled upright and dashed for the door. Matt thrust it open, Mello following on his heels. They were in another hall, one that seemed far too long in their haste to find Near.

"Don't let it happen again. Please don't let it happen again!" Matt said to himself, fearing that he had lost another one of his comrades.

The boys took a sharp turn to the left as they continued down the hall. There was still no sign of Near. Matt suddenly slowed to a stop, Mello almost bumping into him. They had reached the end of the hall, and Near was nowhere in sight.

Matt stood there for a moment. He had lost Near. Another one of their friends was gone. "Why didn't we hear anything? How did it happen so fast?" True, it took a moment for the door to be unlocked, but had Near really been dragged away to who knows where in the time it took for the door to be unlocked and for Matt to finally open it?

Mello frowned. "Whatever got him must have taken him too fast for him to realize what was even going on. With everything that's happened in this game, nothing surprises me anymore."

"So I guess it's just us now..."

"Do all video games have this many traps?" Mello suddenly asked.

Matt shrugged. "The final levels usually do. That's how you know you're reaching the final boss, along with some major plot twist if it's a good game." The redhead vaguely wondered what kind of plot twist there could possibly be. As far as he was concerned, there wasn't even a plot to the game. It just felt like a bunch of random games all thrown into one, like a demo disc of sorts. Though, now that he thought about it, it probably _was_ a demo disc created to test out the device. He shuddered at the thought that it had been abandoned due to being impossible to complete.

"Are you coming?"

Mello's question broke Matt out of his thoughts. The blond was already standing in a half-open doorway, waiting for his friend to follow. Matt hastened his step to catch up, entering the next room after Mello.

It was apparent that the room had been used for battles. Skeletons were strewn about the floor, spiders nesting in the hollow skulls and cobwebs collecting on the rib bones. There were even rows of bleachers to the left and right of where the two friends stood. It certainly wasn't the type of room they had wanted to enter.

Mello was silent for a moment, simply staring, expressionless. "Of course, an arena. Why didn't I see that coming?"

"Let's just hurry through, maybe we'll get lucky and nothing will come at us." Matt said, rushing ahead with the tiniest glint of hope that it was all just to spook them out and they really wouldn't be going up against some giant monster in a fight to the death. At this point, they had to avoid as many fights as necessary and hurry to the end. With only two people, battles would be difficult, and they had to save as much energy as possible for the final boss if they had any hope of beating the game.

The gamer smiled as he reached the other side of the room and nothing had happened. "Hey, look at that, Mel! We're going to make it through without a problem! Mello?" He turned around when he didn't get a response, then realized Mello hadn't even followed him all the way. The blond was still standing in the center of the arena, motionless. "Hey, Mel? What's wrong?"

Mello looked at Matt with empty eyes that made the redhead uneasy. Something was very wrong.

"Mello? Are you okay?" Matt took a couple steps forward. He froze in place as Mello drew his gun, pointing it right at his friend. "Mel...what are you doing?"

A gunshot rang out as Mello fired his weapon. Matt stood frozen in his spot for a moment before bringing his hand to his face. He looked at the red liquid that had come off onto his fingertips. His cheek stung where the bullet had grazed it. Mello was slowly raising his gun again, his expression devoid of all but intent to kill.

Before another shot was fired, several feline creatures stepped out from behind a cage in the wall Matt hadn't known was there. They were slightly larger than a typical house cat, but smaller than a wild cat. Their ribs were clearly distinguishable underneath their thin fur. The starved creatures drooled at the sight and smell of fresh meat.

Mello suddenly turned away from Matt and to the cats as they approached the two boys. As one of them leapt at him, he fired, sending a bullet through its head and killing it. Matt watched in horror. His friend was under some sort of trance, and was killing anything that got in his way, friend or foe.

While the blond was distracted with the cats, Matt took the chance to try to find the source of Mello's trance. Something in the bleachers caught his eye. Standing in the top row was a dark robed man, clearly a skilled dark magic user. He kept his gaze on Mello, as if puppeteering him. So that was it. The dark mage must have cast a spell when they had entered the room, and since Mello had a short fuse, he was easily susceptible to such a spell. Mello had gone berserk. If that was the case, Matt had to take care of the puppeteer, and fast.

Matt made a break for the man, leaping up the bleachers as fast as he could. The man must have seen him, however, as Mello suddenly ignored the cats and brought his attention back to Matt. The redhead ducked under one of the benches, barely avoiding a bullet. At the same time, one of the cats had taken an interest in Matt and came at him. Hoping Mello would be distracted by the rest of the creatures, Matt took a chance and stood upright to fight the one coming at him. Unfortunately, the dark mage wasn't as stupid as Matt had hoped, and kept Mello's attention on him. He was aiming again when the cat lunged at Matt. Mello fired. Matt dove to the ground, ready to take the cat's attack as opposed to a bullet, but neither came. Instead, the cat fell lifelessly to the ground, having been the one shot.

Taking advantage while he could, Matt scrambled back to his feet and rushed at the dark mage. Mello fired, but missed. Matt was gaining on the man. Dagger in his hand, he brought his arm back. Just as he swung, Mello suddenly got between them. Before Matt could stop himself, his dagger embedded itself in Mello's chest. Matt could only stare in horror as his friend fell limp to the ground.

"Mello?"

No response.

Matt turned to the dark mage, who took a step back. "You...BASTARD!"

The man tried running away, but Matt was having none of that. He was quickly behind the mage, his dagger to the man's throat. Giving the mage only long enough to realize he was going to die, Matt sliced his throat, letting him fall to the ground.

For a few moments, Matt simply stood there. He had killed his best friend, his last remaining teammate. Now, they were all gone. He was on his own. He looked back and noticed Mello's body was gone, most likely having faded away after his HP had hit zero. Sheathing his daggers - which were, unusually, not at all stained by blood, most likely due to bad programming - Matt continued on.

"Damn, now I know how Lloyd felt in Tales of Symphonia." He muttered to himself, recalling the final stage of the game where all of Lloyd Irving's friends sacrificed themselves, staying behind so that he could move forward. Except Lloyd had never killed his own friend with his own hands. None of them were forced against their will to fight him. The concept of losing all his friends was still similar, however. Just how many other games did this one rip off of, anyway? He'd have to make his own game someday, with his own original ideas, instead of a collection of wannabe demos.

Matt shook his head. He had to focus on the task at hand, not start letting his mind wander. He was on a mission, and he was going to see it through. Not stopping for anything, Matt marched forward. He was out for revenge. With determination, he threw open the large double doors that stood before him.

The room he had stepped in appeared to be a throne room. It was quite spacious, with a gothic chandelier hanging from the high ceiling. Stained-glass windows adorned the walls, each depicting a dark scene. At the other end of the room, a large, black throne sat atop a platform. A matching black carpet stretched from the doorway to the throne. Whoever resided here certainly seemed to think highly of himself.

"Come out and show yourself!" Matt yelled, his voice echoing in the silence.

A slow clapping was the response, followed by a voice Matt couldn't help but feel was familiar. "Well well, you made it. I must say, I'm surprised."

"Stop hiding!"

"Confident, are we? Very well."

Whatever confidence there was on Matt's face vanished, instead growing wide-eyed, his jaw dropping as a figure stepped into view from behind the dark curtains behind the throne.


	12. World 3 3: Final

_Author's Note: Here it is, the last chapter! I'm sorry the update took so long, I've been busy. Final exams and projects were my main concerns, then there was Christmas, and after Christmas...well let's just say Final Fantasy VIII and Halo are very addicting. Not to mention I had another fic to update and classes have started again. But anyway, enjoy the final chapter!_

* * *

"Y-you!" Matt yelled, pointing at the man that had revealed himself.

"Dear boy, didn't your mother ever teach you it was rude to point?"

"Mortimer! You should be dead!"

The old man frowned. "Come now, must you be so harsh? You sound as if you want me dead."

Matt glared. "So you were behind all of this the whole time! Why? Why did you help us?"

"When you have lived as long as I have, you need something to entertain yourself with." Mortimer gave an evil grin that only hardened Matt's glare. "Besides, I needed to test you. Only those who pass my trials are worthy to become my servants."

Matt laughed, "Become your servants? Hah! As if! I would never serve under you!"

"I don't recall saying that it was voluntary. I couldn't very well leave you to your own free will, you might just end up betraying me. No, you will have no choice. It's disappointing though, I was hoping more of you would make it through. It appears you are the only one strong enough. Oh well, you will have to do."

Mortimer held his hand out so that his palm was facing Matt. It glowed with a bright aura, then began collecting in the center of his palm. Without warning, a beam shot out, catching Matt in the chest and knocking him to the ground.

Matt coughed and tried to get back to his feet, only to be knocked back down as Mortimer's cane came down heavily upon his chest, forcing him to the floor.

"Oh dear, is this the best you can do? Come on now, aren't you going to try to fight back? Don't tell me I overestimated your abilities."

"I'll never lose to you, _old man_." Matt spat.

The last two words seemed to bother Mortimer, as his mocking expression soon turned angry. "Respect your elders, boy. I have three and a half millennia of experience. I know things you could never dream of!"

"Tch. That's what they all say. Too bad your experience didn't teach you to disarm your opponents when trying to get them to submit to your influence."

Before Mortimer realized what was happening, Matt drew one of his daggers and stabbed Mortimer's left leg. The old man howled in pain stepped back. Matt quickly got back to his feet and drew his other dagger, ready to fight.

"You insolent brat!" Mortimer yelled, and fired another beam. Matt was ready this time, however, and easily dodged it. Despite whatever Mortimer might brag about, he was still an old man, and thus slower than Matt, and soon Matt was behind his enemy, his dagger to the man's throat.

"Sorry, old man, but you just aren't fast enough. Seems like those three and a half millennia have worn out your muscles."

Strangely enough, Mortimer began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Matt growled.

"If you value your friend's lives, I suggest you don't move."

"What are you-"

At that moment, two knights stepped into the room. Their eyes were devoid of emotion, much like Mello's had been when he had been Berserked. Caught in their arms were Alone and Scarlet.

"Let me go!" Scarlet yelled, struggling against the stoic knight. Both her and Alone's struggling ceased when they laid eyes upon Matt and Mortimer.

"You are kidding me..." Alone said, staring at Mortimer and clearly disgusted. "I thought we killed him twice!"

Matt's mouth dropped open. "Alone?! Scarlet?! I thought you two got defeated!"

"Oh, we did." Alone said in a greatly annoyed tone.

"Then how are you here?"

"We had an extra life." Scarlet answered. "Must have gotten one sometime when we leveled up or something. Unfortunately, these guys grabbed us before we got very far." She sighed. "Man, I really wanted to make a cool, epic entrance too."

"Enough!" Mortimer yelled. "Like I said, if you value your friends' lives, then lower your weapon!" The two knights raised their swords to the girls' necks to convince Matt to step back.

Matt clenched his teeth. He was so close, but he couldn't betray his teammates. He lowered his dagger from Mortimer's neck and stepped back.

"Good, now drop them and kneel before me!"

As much as Matt wanted to protest, he felt he didn't have a choice. His daggers clattered to the ground. Mortimer's laughter echoed throughout the room. "I told you! Ahahahah! You cannot defeat me!" His laughter was interrupted when he began coughing like a cat chocking up a hairball. Matt was sure the man was going to hack up a lung. Mortimer regained his composure, however, acting as if it had never happened.

"What is this?!" Scarlet yelled. "No way are we going play damsels in distress! I did _not_ play this game to get captured like that stupid Ashley from Resident Evil Four! Why is it always the girls anyway? Matt! You pick up those daggers and fight him! I refuse to be used as the defenseless girl that just causes problems!"

Mortimer glanced over at Scarlet. "Watch what you say, girl. You have no choice. If you don't shut your mouth, then you won't have a head with which to speak."

Scarlet glanced over to Alone. The two grinned.

"They never do think of this in video games, do they?" Alone asked.

Scarlet shook her head. "Nope."

The two knights holding the girls suddenly yelped in pain, dropping them and falling to their knees. The girls retrieved their weapons, which the knights had also dropped after being kicked in the groin, and went to stand beside Matt.

"Told ya we weren't gonna play damsel in distress." Scarlet said to Matt while high-fiving Alone.

"Wow." Was all Matt could seem to think to say.

Alone sighed. "Can we finish this now? I'd like to get back to the real world."

Matt nodded. "What now, Mortimer? You lost the only leverage you had."

Mortimer scowled, but quickly covered it up, smiling instead. "Well, now I absolutely must have you three under my command!"

A sudden burst of energy from Mortimer blew the three back, not even sparing his own two knights. Before Matt, Alone or Scarlet had time to react, Mortimer charged for a powerful spell. Just as the three were getting to their feet, the air around them crackled with electricity. With a crack of thunder, bolts of lightning shot out from every direction around them. Mortimer laughed.

"Ahahahah! Not even you three can protect yourselves against my magic! Ahahahah-WHAT?!"

Much to Mortimer's dismay, the three stood, unharmed, in a spherical shield that surrounded them. Just as he was turning around, a gunshot rang out, and Mortimer fell to the ground, a bullet in his forehead.

"Mello! Near!" Matt called out as the two boys walked into the room.

Scarlet mumbled something along the lines of, "How come they get a cool entrance and I didn't?", but nobody seemed to hear.

"Tch. Doesn't that guy _ever_ die?!" Mello spat, kicking Mortimer, who didn't move. "Hey, maybe he finally is dead this time."

Matt looked skeptical. "I don't know about that...usually the final bosses have some crazy final form."

The blond shot Mortimer in the head one more time just for good measure and rejoined his friends. "Nah, I think he's down for good."

Scarlet shook her head. "That's just what he wants you to think. Any second now he's going to rise up and scream something along the lines of-"

"YOU INSOLENT FOOLS!"

The group all turned their attention to Mortimer, who had gotten back to his feet as two bullets clattered to the ground.

"Told ya." Scarlet said.

"I didn't want to do this...but you leave me no choice!"

The entire room shook with energy. Power seemed to be radiating from Mortimer's body as a bright flash of light engulfed the room. As the light faded and the group was able to open their eyes, they found they were no longer standing in Mortimer's throne room. Instead, they were standing on seemingly nothing in the middle of space. Despite this, the laws of gravity still seemed to hold, and they stood as if they were on solid ground.

"What is this?" Near asked, looking around at the surrounding starry blackness.

"Remember when I told you about a crazy final form? Yeah...this is it." Matt answered.

Standing before them was no longer the fragile-looking old man, but what looked more like a cross between a demon and an elderly angel, and an impossibly large one at that. Apparently, the creators couldn't decide if the final boss should be angelic or demonic. Two large, white, feathered wings sprouted from his back. His can had become more like a large staff. Mortimer's body was more on the demonic side, his fingers extending into large claws and his once dark eyes glowing gold. Silver armor covered him, seemingly attached to his body.

"You will fall before my power!" Mortimer's voice was layered, as if several people were speaking in different tones.

The group got into their battle stances, standing in a line before Mortimer. Mello stood at the far right, Alone was beside him, Matt was in the middle of all of them, Near was on the other side of Matt, and Scarlet took up the left end.

Out of nowhere, music began playing, signaling the start of the battle.

"Why the hell is music playing and where is it coming from?!" Mello yelled, trying to find the source of the music.

"Epic battles need epic music." Matt said.

"Then why didn't we hear any music in the rest of the game?" Alone asked.

Matt shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe they wanted the boss experience to feel more authentic."

"It's stupid." Mello grumbled.

The conversation was interrupted as Mortimer shot a small ray of light from a red third eye on his forehead at Mello.

The blond growled and tried to retaliate, only to find he couldn't move. "What? Why can't I move?!"

"I can't either!" Scarlet yelled, unable to do more than change her stance.

"It must be turn-based." Matt said, realizing he, too, couldn't attack.

Scarlet looked horrified. "What?! I don't like not being able to move! I can't defend myself from attacks!"

"Scarlet! Calm down!" Alone said, trying to stop her friend from having a panic attack. "Try not to think about it."

"I can move." Near said. "Does that mean it's my turn?"

Matt nodded, then looked at the meters above Near's head. "See that third meter, underneath your MP meter? That's the wait meter. When it's full, you can attack. Unfortunately, this is the kind the enemy doesn't wait, his meter is already going back up, so hurry and make a choice!"

Near nodded and quickly made a decision. Transparent shields surrounded each individual person momentarily. The life meters radiated with a blue glow, indicating a raise in defenses. Near's MP meter dropped slightly afterwards, and he found himself unable to do anything else.

Since Matt had taken time explaining, Mortimer had a chance to strike again. This time, he attacked Near. Thanks to the shields he white mage had raised, some of the damage was nullified, and the attack didn't do much.

"Near and Alone, on your next turns, take a couple of steps back. You guys are long-distance fighters and we need to keep you out of danger more." Matt instructed, "That way he'll attack you less and us more, but since we are close-range fighters it will be to our advantage."

It was Mello's turn, and he raised his pistol. Aiming carefully, he pulled the trigger, shooting Mortimer in the forehead just above his third eye. Much to Mello's dismay, Mortimer's life meter only decreased slightly.

"What the hell?! I shot him in the head! That should have done way more damage!"

"It doesn't matter where you shoot him, it'll take the same amount of damage." Matt explained.

The blond fumed. "That's retarded!"

Matt shrugged. "That's a video game."

Alone took a couple steps back as Matt had earlier instructed until she found she couldn't back up anymore, as if hitting an invisible wall. That done, she got her bow ready and fired and arrow. Next it was Scarlet's turn. She hesitated for a moment, not really wanting to run up to Mortimer's new form, then remembered he couldn't counterattack her. Unsheathing her sword, she ran up to him, slashing at his torso. After the attack, she was pushed back by some force, making her resume her original position beside Near.

"They really don't let you get in more than one hit." Scarlet mumbled, wishing she could have struck more than once.

It was Mortimer's turn again. His red eye glinted and a haze formed around Near.

Near looked around himself, trying to blow the strange white vapor away with his arms. "What is this? I feel...kind of...sleepy...". Without another word, Near fell to his knees, slouched over and asleep.

"Near?" Scarlet asked. She would have tried shaking him if it wasn't for the fact she couldn't move enough to do so. "I think he was put to sleep!"

Matt cursed, "Damn, he just _had_ to get our healer." It was his turn, and he took his attack. Mello, Alone, and Scarlet all got attacks in as well before Mortimer attacked again. His third eye glinted again and a sphere of black light formed in front of it. It gradually got bigger, finally shooting a large ray straight at Scarlet. Her HP immediately fell to 1.

"Ooow...he has one of those...stupid attacks..." Scarlet muttered.

Alone frowned. "With Near asleep, if he hits Scarlet again..."

Mello shot at their opponent. "We'll just have to hope she doesn't get hit."

Alone tried aiming for the third eye. She doubted it would do anything, but it was worth a shot. The well-aimed arrow successfully hit it's target. Much to the group's surprise, Mortimer roared in pain and his third eye closed. Alone grinned, "I guess hitting some particular parts does work after all."

"Nice shot, Alone!" Scarlet said as she reached into her pouch that, ironically enough, Mortimer had given each member at the beginning of the game. She pulled out a potion and examined it. "I guess I drink it..." She pulled the cork out and sniffed the contents. It didn't smell like anything, but she still made a face at it. Hoping it wouldn't taste like medicine, she raised the bottle to her lips. Convincing herself it would taste like cotton candy, she drank. Her life meter rose as the contents were drained, finally bringing her back up to full HP when she was done. She flung the bottle behind her. "Strange...it tasted like...cotton candy."

"Cotton candy?" Mello asked, raising an eyebrow. "What kind of potion tastes like cotton candy?"

Scarlet shrugged. "I don't know, I tried to convince myself it would taste like cotton candy and not something nasty, and sure enough, it tasted just like I imagined it."

A few turns later, Near finally woke up. He quickly got to his feet and looked around. "Did I...fall asleep?"

Matt nodded. "It's one of his attacks. Luckily we all still had potions to heal us while you were out."

Near frowned. "I'm sorry. It appears my shields have worn out as well. I'll raise them again next time, I want to heal first." A soft glow surrounded Matt as the team's white mage healed him, re-filling the half of his HP bar that had been missing.

When it was Mortimer's turn again, he didn't attack. Instead, he seemed to be charging energy. His red eye opened and began glowing a bright red.

"That doesn't look good..." Alone said.

"Near, make sure you raise those shields again!" Matt instructed.

Near nodded, and after Scarlet attacked, raised the party's defenses again. Alone aimed for Mortimer's third eye again, but this time, the attack did nothing.

As Mortimer's turn came around again, he seemed to vanish, and the group was surrounded by complete darkness. White feathers floated down all around them and it felt as if the air itself was shaking. A beam of white light suddenly shot down from overhead, engulfing the entire group. When it was gone, they were all left with little HP, all of the meters glowing red indicating they were in the danger zone.

"Dammit...Near, is it possible for you to heal all of us at once?" Matt asked.

Near shook his head, "It is far more effective if I heal a single person at a time, and I don't have enough MP remaining to use my best healing abilities on everyone."

"Did you hear that?" Alone suddenly asked. "It sounded like a ding."

Matt looked above them all and spotted a white meter he hadn't noticed before. It was full and pulsing with a dull glow.

"Hey, I can move, but it shouldn't be my turn!" Scarlet said.

"Me too." Mello added. "What's going on?"

"It must have something to do with that bar. The ding must have been the sound of it filling up." Matt suggested.

Scarlet looked up at the bar. "A team attack maybe?"

"So then we all attack at once?" Alone asked.

Matt nodded. "Alright, everyone, let's make this really count! He has about a quarter of his HP left, I bet if we give it all we've got, we can take him down!"

Mello and Alone both aimed their weapons while Near started casting a spell.

"Everyone ready?!" Matt called out, "Let's finish this!"

He and Scarlet ran forward. Just as they were in front of Mortimer, Alone and Mello fired their weapons and Near cast his spell. Mortimer howled in agony as a sword, two daggers, a bullet, an arrow, and a holy spell all struck him at once. Matt and Scarlet jumped back, rejoining the rest of the group.

"No! How...how could this...be? How can I be defeated?!" Mortimer cried out in his layered voice. The feathers on his wings started falling off and it looked like his body was disintegrating into the air. "No...NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

In seconds, Mortimer was gone, only the echo of his screams remaining. Before the group got a chance to celebrate, the invisible ground started was a brief flash of light, followed by a second, then finally a third, which lingered far longer than the previous ones, forcing the group to shut their eyes against the harsh light.

"Nnnn..." Matt groaned as he opened his eyes. "What happened?"

The cover of his pod slowly opened. He stretched and got out, looking around at the other pods his friends were in. "Guys? Are you awake?"

His response was a banging noise followed by a curse. Another pod opened and Mello stepped out, rubbing his head and mumbling something about the pod.

"Finally!" Alone said, crawling out of her pod as fast as she could and slamming the cover shut. "I thought we'd never get out of there!"

Near crawled out of his pod soundlessly while Scarlet jumped out of hers.

"Alright! We did it!" Scarlet said, grinning.

Mello and Alone did not appear quite as enthusiastic. Alone rounded on Matt. "I am never following your ideas again."

Matt frowned. "Aw, come on, it wasn't _that_ bad!"

"Yes, it was. What if we didn't have an extra life like we did when we lost? What if we never woke up?!"

"I'm sure we would have woken up after losing."

"I agree with Alone." Mello said, glaring at Matt. "I believe I promised to kick your ass after we got out."

"Perhaps you should leave that for another time, Mello." Near interrupted. "We should probably hurry and get to bed." He pointed to a digital clock on a nearby table, which indicated that it was 5:30 in the morning. They had been playing the game all night.

Alone nodded in agreement. "Let's get what little sleep we can before we have to get up in a couple of hours."

The next morning, Roger had Matt, Mello and Scarlet gathered in his office. When the three hadn't showed up to their first classes, somebody had been sent to check up on them. When it was discovered they were still sleeping, they had been brought down to Roger. Near and Alone were both spared, having gotten up and to class on time. Both apparently could function on little sleep. The other three, however, were not quite so lucky.

"What is it you three were doing all night that left you so tired this morning?" Roger asked, his elbows propped on his desk and his hands folded.

"Playing a video game." Scarlet responded softly, ashamed.

Roger raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And where were you?"

"My room." Matt responded quickly. He knew that the game room was checked at curfew to make sure everyone was in their rooms. There had been several times where he had been yelled at to get to bed.

"You were playing too?" Roger asked Mello, surprised that the blond would be playing a video game so late at night since he wasn't ever seen playing during the day.

Mello crossed his arms. "I didn't want to, they were being too noisy and kept me up." It was clear he wasn't about to take the blame for the incident, even if he had also been playing. The excuse was legitimate, since he and Matt shared a room. Most of the kids were paired up since there weren't enough bedrooms. Alone had tried waking Scarlet up in the morning, as they also shared a room, but Scarlet had fallen back asleep on accident after Alone left.

"I see." Roger was quiet for a moment, figuring out what to do with the three. His eyes fell on Matt and Scarlet. "You two are both banned from the game room for a week. Also, your personal handhelds are going to be confiscated. They will be returned to you after the punishment time is up."

Scarlet frowned and Matt groaned. Mello chuckled.

"You, Mello, are not allowed to have chocolate for a week."

Mello's humored expression quickly changed. "What?! I didn't do anything!"

"Precisely. I find it hard to believe Matt and Scarlet kept you up all night playing video games and you didn't say or do anything about it."

"But...but..."

"No buts. That is the punishment. You are all dismissed, get to your next class."

The three shuffled out of the office where Alone was waiting for them.

"How did it go?" She asked Scarlet.

"We got punished for a week..."

Alone sighed. "I told you to get up. Oh well. Now you can come down to the library with me, maybe go outside for once."

Mello turned to Matt. "Just wait. I'm going to get you for this."

Matt sighed. It was going to be a very long week. One thing was for sure: they were never going down to that room again. At least now they knew what would happen if life was like a video game.

* * *

_Author's Note: Well, that's that! A big thanks to all of my readers, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Remember, don't start playing with strange devices left unfinished in a hidden room full of abandoned experiments! XD Though I wouldn't mind a completed virtual reality game myself...hah hah! _

_Anyway, thanks again for sticking with this until the end! Bye bye! =)_


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